Scope : a look inside the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY
FALL/ WINTER 2005
Predicting how disease spreads
This mathematician is developing network models that
will predict how disease spreads through populations,
critical in handling outbreaks of bio- terrorism,
influenza or other infectious diseases.
IN THIS ISSUE Hurricane season prediction 3 New genome map 11 Alumni & Friends Weekend report 12
scope A L O O K I N S I D E THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
As we’ve spoken with alumni
and friends over the last few years,
they’re often surprised to learn
how the College has changed—
about its educational innovations,
the impact of our research and the
scope of our programs. They’re
also very proud of the changes,
and have expressed the desire to
get involved.
This is an exciting time for our
College. Our students and faculty
are doing tremendous work and
we want to make our alumni and
friends part of it. We’ve just
hosted our first Alumni & Friends
Weekend, and we keep receiving
requests to make this an annual
event. We’ve recently started a
society for our alumni and friends,
and the society’s leadership is
eager to help us achieve our
vision, stated below.
The College’s vision is a bold one,
but it’s one we work toward every
day. It provides us with a sense of
purpose, and of who we are.
Our vision is about impact. In
this issue of Scope you’ll see
examples of the impacts our stu-dents
and faculty are making. The
cover story discusses modeling the
spread of disease, a timely topic
given concerns about an avian flu
pandemic. A PAMS physicist has
found a possible key to developing
efficient fuel cells. Another faculty
member is developing a faster way
to develop life- saving drugs, while
yet another continues to amaze
the world with what she’s learning
from soft dinosaur tissue.
We’re also making meaningful
impacts in other ways. A recent
economic development luncheon
showcasing our faculty led to
ongoing discussions with a local
company about a potential part-nership.
In anticipation of an active
hurricane season, we partnered
with Congressman Bob Etheridge
on a regional hurricane summit
that presented the latest informa-tion
about these dangerous storms
and how to handle their aftermath.
And we’re at 87 percent of an
ambitious $ 50 million fundraising
goal that will provide support for
our students, faculty and programs.
The College is doing great
things, driven by a vision that is
bold yet achievable. As our alumni
and friends, you share in this
vision. Your support, leadership
and participation are very impor-tant
to our students and faculty,
and we are all very appreciative.
We hope to continue making
you proud.
Daniel L. Solomon, Dean
A powerful vision
PAMS
Foundation
2005– 06 Board
of Directors
Officers
W. Donald Johnson, President
Eric L. Doggett, Vice President
Anita C. Stallings, Secretary
Kathryn S. Hart, Treasurer
Charles D. Leffler, Assistant Treasurer
General Members
Charles Case
Roy Cromartie
Eric Doggett
Maureen Droessler
Stephen Frye
Ned Guttman
Lawrence Ives
Don Johnson
Charles Joyner
Rob Lindberg
Preston Linn
Marty Mascianica
Connie Moreadith
Dale Newton
Mike Peirson
Tom Rhodes
Nancy Ridenhour
John Ryals
John Sall
Cathy Sigal
Cecil Smith
Glen Snider
Robert Starbuck
Herb Strickler
Michael Thompson
Bill White
Leigh Wilkinson
Glen Williams
Meredith Williams
Christian Wypasek
Miriam Zietlow
Emeritus
Richard Cook
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
Dean Dan Solomon, Dr. Robert Nemanich and Dr. Jay Baliga visit one of Nemanich’s new physics laboratories in Partners III
on Centennial Campus. ( see related story, page 9)
Vision Statement
We will continue our tradition of overall educational excellence and research
quality while achieving world- wide prominence in strategically chosen areas—
areas that are shaped by the national agendas for science, that build upon our
strengths, and that offer opportunities to improve our economy, our environment
and the human condition.
scope A L O O K I N S I D E THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
see page 8
FALL/ WINTER 2005
Honors
Schweitzer in “ science fair” for Congress 5
Mathematics student wins prestigious SIAM award 6
Weir receives Holladay Medal 11
Alumni and Development news
Statistics Club visits alumni, agencies in Washington, DC 10
PAMS hosts successful Alumni & Friends Weekend 12
Welcome to the PAMS Alumni & Friends Society 15
University, PAMS announce Achieve! Campaign 16
Fellowship honors Skip Stoddard 16
Just for fun
What about Bob? 5
Weekend photos and podcasts online now 14
In this issue…
On the cover: Mathematician Alun Lloyd sketches a network diagram on plexiglass. ( Photo by Roger Winstead)
PAMS Celebrate
Achievement!
September 23 – 24, 2005
Alumni and Friends Weekend!
see page 12
College news
College announces new leadership 2
Forecasting to save lives— PAMS hosts hurricane summit 3
Mathematics Department brings world to campus 6
New research building opens 9
PAMS presents economic development luncheon 15
Research highlights
PAMS introduces new hurricane season prediction method 3
Key geologic map updated 4
‘ Bob’ is a girl … and she’s pregnant! 5
‘ Defective’ nanostructures may lead to hydrogen energy breakthrough 7
Physicist assists in skin cancer discovery 7
Mathematician models networks to predict spread of disease 8
Statistician leads effort to faster drug discovery 10
New genome map may aid disease research 11
www. pams. ncsu. edu/ weekend
2 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
Paesler named
head of Physics
Department
Dr. Michael Paesler has been
named head of the Department of
Physics. He succeeds Chris Gould,
who served as head for 10 years.
Paesler joined the NC State faculty
as an assistant professor of physics in
1980 and was promoted to full pro-fessor
in 1990. He has served as the
director of graduate programs in
physics since 1997.
Paesler’s research focuses on syn-chrotron
radiation investigations of
chalcogenide glasses. Advances made
in this effort may find applications
in developing switchable computer
interconnects.
While at NC State, Paesler has
taken leave to serve as a guest pro-fessor
at universities in France and
Germany. He is a fellow of the
American Physical Society ( APS), a
member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi,
and the NC State Academy of
Outstanding Teachers.
This year Paesler was appointed to
two national committees: the APS
Task Force on Graduate Education
and the American Association of
Physics Teachers Graduate Education
Committee.
Paesler received his bachelor’s
degree from Beloit College in 1968,
and his PhD from the University of
Chicago in 1975.
Paesler is believed to be the only
NC State faculty member to have
ever swum across the English
Channel.
Gould named
associate dean
Dr. Christopher Gould has been
named associate dean for admin-istration
for the College.
Gould served as head of the
Department of Physics since 1995.
He joined the NC State faculty as an
assistant professor of physics in 1971,
and became a full professor in 1983.
Gould is a nuclear physicist whose
research focuses on the properties of
neutrons and neutrinos. The work has
applications in medical physics and
in reactor safeguards, and has impli-cations
for the understanding of the
matter anti- matter asymmetry in the
universe, and the formation of heavy
elements in stars.
Gould is a fellow of the American
Physical Society, and a member of
the Sigma Xi, Sigma Pi Sigma and
Sigma Iota Ro honor societies. He
was elected to the NC State Academy
of Outstanding Teachers in 1985 and
was recognized as an NC State
Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate
Professor in 1990.
He has held visiting appointments
at Los Alamos National Laboratory,
the Institute for Nuclear Physics in
Frankfurt, Germany, and the Institute
of Atomic Energy in Beijing, China.
He currently serves on the fellowship
committee of the APS Division of
Nuclear Physics, and as chair of the
Los Alamos Neutron Science Center
Users Group.
Gould received his bachelor’s
degree from the Imperial College,
London in 1965, and his PhD from the
University of Pennsylvania in 1969.
He is spending fall semester as a
Scholar in Residence at the Oak Ridge
Center for Advanced Studies.
Khaledi named
Chemistry chair
Dr. Morteza Khaledi has been
named chair of the Department of
Chemistry.
Khaledi joined the NC State fac-ulty
in 1988 as an assistant professor
of analytical chemistry and was pro-moted
to full professor in 1997. He is
a member of the American Chemical
Society and the national chemical
honor society, Phi Lambda Upsilon.
He has served as a member of the
scientific review panels for the
National Institutes of Health ( NIH)
and on the editorial advisory boards
of several journals. He has delivered
more than 70 invited lectures at
international meetings, symposia and
workshops, and has published more
than 100 scholarly articles.
A specialist in liquid and electro-kinetic
chromatography, Khaledi has
received numerous grants from the
NIH, including the FIRST Award in
1989.
Khaledi earned his bachelor’s
degree of science from the University
of Shiraz in Iran in 1978, and his PhD
from the University of Florida in
1984.
He succeeds Bruce Novak, who
has returned to the faculty ranks
after six years of service as depart-ment
head. The department faculty
recently voted to convert to a
chairmanship structure.
College announces new leadership
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
Dr. Michael Paesler
Dr. Christopher Gould Dr. Morteza Khaledi
Forecasting to save lives— PAMS hosts
regional hurricane summit
The College and the Department
of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences partnered with
Congressman Bob Etheridge to
present a hurricane summit on the
first day of the 2005 hurricane
season. The program was a follow- up
to a similar summit held in 2001.
The summit provided an oppor-tunity
for emergency management
professionals from both the public
and private sectors to hear the latest
information about hurricane fore-casting
research and technology.
Gen. David L. Johnson, director
of the National Weather Service,
was the keynote speaker. Presenters
included representatives from
the NC Division of Crime Control
and Public Safety, NC Division
of Emergency Management, the
Severe Storms Lab and local news
media.
NC State panelists included
Drs. Len Pietrafesa and Lian Xie, and
research associate Shaowu Bao, all of
the Department of Marine, Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences. During his
presentation, Xie announced a new
seasonal forecast model which
features the first attempt to include
landfall in specific regions. ( See
related story below.)
Topics included public education
and communications issues, and the
state of various forecasting and
modeling technologies, including
flood models that will prove very
helpful to emergency managers in
planning response and recovery
following major storms.
About 80 people attended the
meeting, which included poster pre-sentations
by several meteorology
students.
Just as the 2005 record- breaking
hurricane season started, researchers
at NC State announced a new model
for predicting the number of hurri-canes
likely to form in the Atlantic
Ocean, as well as the number of
those hurricanes likely to threaten
the eastern seaboard. This is the first
attempt at a seasonal forecast that
includes landfall in specific regions.
In an article published in a recent
issue of Geophysical Research
Letters, Dr. Lian Xie of Marine, Earth
and Atmospheric Sciences, along
with colleagues Dr. Leonard
Pietrafesa and graduate student
Tingzhaung Yan, describe the
methodology they used in creating
their prediction model as well as the
results of their analysis. Also involved
in the research were Dr. Dave Dickey
of the Statistics Department, and Dr.
Tom Karl of the NOAA National
Climatic Data Center in Asheville.
The mathematical model evalu-ates
data from the last 100 years on
Atlantic Ocean hurricane positions
and intensity, as well as other vari-ables
including weather patterns and
sea surface temperatures, in order to
predict how many storms will form
and where they will make landfall.
“ The most important factor in
determining the probability of land-fall
was the temperature difference
between the North and South
Atlantic Oceans,” says Xie. “ When
we looked at the histories of these
storms we discovered that if the
water in the North Atlantic was
warmer than in the South Atlantic,
landfall on the eastern seaboard of
the United States became more
likely.”
Based on their data, the
researchers believed that five to six
hurricanes would form in the Atlantic
during the June 1– Nov. 30 hurricane
season. Of those, two to three were
deemed likely to impact the eastern
seaboard of the United States.
However, the 2005 season sur-prised
everyone. As early as mid- July,
those with established hurricane
seasonal forecasts were updating
their data to accommodate the
higher level of activity. As of press
time, 26 named storms had formed,
using up the season’s list of names
and forcing meteorologists to use
the Greek letters Alpha, Beta,
Gamma, Delta and Epsilon as storm
names. Of these storms, 14 became
hurricanes, one of which, Wilma,
became the most powerful Atlantic
hurricane in history.
So how did NC State’s new
prediction method perform? At press
time, there have been seven hurri-canes
that formed in the Atlantic,
and two east coast landfalls— either
within or close to the parameters of
the new prediction method. Some of
this season’s many storms seemed to
have formed in the Atlantic, but
actually formed in the Caribbean.
This study is co- sponsored by the
National Climatic Data Center and
the Coastal Services Center of NOAA,
as a component of the NOAA/ NCSU
Cooperative Program on Climate and
Weather Impacts on Society and the
Environment ( CWISE).
PAMS introduces new hurricane
season prediction method
Meredith Croke was one of several students who made poster presentations of their research projects at the hurricane summit.
Here, she discusses her tropical cyclone precipitation research with summit participants during a break in the program.
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
4 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
PHOTOS BY SALLY RAMEY
James P. Hibbard led efforts to
revise an important reference map
detailing major geologic features of
the Appalachians from Alabama to
Newfoundland. Hibbard is a professor
in the Department of Marine, Earth
and Atmospheric Sciences, specializ-ing
in structural geology and
Appalachian tectonics.
While a graduate student at
Memorial University of
Newfoundland in 1978, Hibbard
helped Dr. Hank Williams develop the
original map, which identified major
bedrock divisions in relation to their
ages and the geologic environments
in which they formed.
The first of its kind, this lithotec-tonic
map became an important
reference for geologists, mining
companies, environmental scientists,
university faculty and students, pale-ontologists—
virtually anyone inter-ested
in the mountain chain’s geology.
Since then, scientists have
collected an incredible amount of
additional information, Hibbard said,
creating a new map with little resem-blance
to the old. Its main purpose
remains as a reference for anyone
interested in Appalachian bedrock
geology.
For example, companies targeting
granites of a specific age will better
understand their distribution.
Likewise, the map identifies the
potential distribution of mineral
deposits or even natural hazards
such as sinkholes. Academics will find
it useful in developing models for the
distribution of continental masses at
different time periods.
The new map is color- coded by
age, with texture patterns distin-guishing
between major classifica-tions
of rock type. If one knows how
to read the map, ancient shorelines
are easily visible along the 8.5- foot
map’s 2,000- mile view.
“ It’s a storybook about the
Appalachians,” Hibbard said. “ It pro-vides
regional geological context for
the mountain belt. You can see how
it was built.”
While updating the map, the team
made some unexpected discoveries,
including a line of locations where
Devonian granite has intruded up
into older volcanic rock in North and
South Carolina.
“ This could represent the track of
an ancient volcanic ‘ hotspot’ that
periodically erupted up through the
continental crust as it moved across
the hotspot, much like the hotspot
that is now under Yellowstone
National Park,” he said.
Today’s Geographical Information
Systems ( GIS) technology gave the
map a new feature – digitization.
Now, the map is a living document
that can readily accept future revi-sions,
or be manipulated into cus-tomized
maps for research or
educational purposes. It can serve as
a GIS base map for virtually all types
of geological data, including paleon-tological,
geophysical, geochemical,
geochronological, etc. Likewise, it can
accept overlays of other data.
“ The map’s potential applications
are endless, and not confined to
geology. It gives meaning to a variety
of data in the context of the moun-tain
belt,” Hibbard said. “ Just as the
1978 map served as the basis and
inspiration for research in the region,
we hope the new map will stimulate
research for years to come.”
The five- year effort to revise the
map involved a team representing NC
State, the U. S. Geological Survey, the
Canadian Geological Survey and the
Memorial University of Newfound-land.
The project was funded by the
National Science Foundation.
Key geologic map updated
This image is of a small section
of the 1978 map.
This image is of the corresponding section of the new map. The additional detail is
clearly obvious. The purple spots in the orange area across the middle of the image may
be evidence of an ancient volcanic “ hot spot.”
PHOTO BY SCARONE PHOTOGRAPHY
‘ Bob’ is a girl … and she’s pregnant!
Paleontologist Mary Higby
Schweitzer and her technician,
Jennifer Wittmeyer, have determined
that a 68 million year- old
Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil from
Montana is that of a young female,
and that she was producing eggs
when she died.
The scientists found unusual bone
tissue lining the hollow cavity of a
leg bone from “ Bob,” a T. rex found in
Montana’s Hell Creek formation. This
is the same fossil in which the team
had discovered remarkably well- pre-served
soft tissue appearing to con-tain
blood vessels and possibly even
red blood cells.
In a paper published in the June 3
issue of the journal Science,
Schweitzer, assistant professor of pale-ontology
with a joint appointment at
the NC Museum of Natural Sciences,
Wittmeyer, and colleagues at Montana
State University said this particular tis-sue
provides evidence of the
dinosaur’s gender and a connection
between the extinct giants and living
birds, specifically ostriches and emus.
Schweitzer believes that the tissue
inside the T. rex bone is medullary
bone. This reproductive bone tissue
forms inside the hollow leg bones of
birds during ovulation and persists
until the last egg is laid, at which time
it is reabsorbed into the bird’s body. Its
formation is triggered by an increase
in estrogen levels, and it provides the
calcium necessary to form eggshells.
Medullary bone is only found in pres-ent-
day female birds. No other egg-laying
species produces this tissue
naturally – including crocodiles, the
other living dinosaur relative.
Because the dinosaur tissue didn’t
look exactly like medullary bone in
living birds like chicken and quail,
Schweitzer’s team compared it to
that of more primitive ratites, or
flightless birds, such as ostriches and
emus. These birds share more fea-tures
with dinosaurs than other
present- day birds.
Viewed under both a light and an
electron microscope, the dinosaur
tissues are virtually identical to those
of the modern birds in form, location
and distribution. Demineralization—
the chemical removal of a bone’s
minerals in order to obtain organic
material that is much easier to work
with in a lab environment— of the
samples revealed that the medullary
bone from the ostrich and emu was
virtually identical in structure, orien-tation
and even color, with that seen
in the T. rex.
Since only females produce
medullary bone, its presence indicates
that “ Bob” was actually a female, and
probably died toward the end of her
laying cycle. From a biological per-spective,
the tissue is another link
between dinosaurs and living birds.
“ The discovery of medullary bone
in the T. rex is important because it
allows us to objectively sex a
dinosaur,” said Schweitzer. “ It also
adds to the robust support linking
birds and dinosaurs and shows that
their reproductive physiologies may
have been similar. Hopefully we’ll be
able to identify features within
dinosaurs that will help us determine
the gender of other fossils, and lead
to more information about their herd
structure or family groups.”
The NC Museum of Natural
Sciences in downtown Raleigh
recently became home to a cast of
the thigh bone, making it available to
the public to see.
This research was funded by NC
State, the NC Museum of Natural
Sciences and the National Science
Foundation.
Schweitzer appears in “ science fair” for Congress
Mary Higby Schweitzer was one of 38 researchers invited to present an exhibit at the Coalition for National Science Funding’s
annual exhibition in Washington, DC Designed to encourage funding for the National Science Foundation ( NSF), the event pres-ents
a selection of exhibits representing the variety of research funded by the NSF. The exhibition and reception are held for
members of Congress and the White House staff. While there, Schweitzer also visited the offices of several NC legislators. Here,
she talks with NC Sixth District Representative Howard Coble.
The recent dual discoveries of soft dinosaur tissue,
and the medullary bone described in this article,
made headlines around the globe. Coverage of this research appeared in thousands of newspapers and magazines,
and on radio, television… even The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The subject matter allowed headline writers to be
very creative. Here are some favorites:
NC State discovers T. rex’s softer side
Experts claim they found T. rex innards
T. rex breakthrough a grand ‘ cell’ebration
Paleontologists are thrilled to the bone
Should we call her T- rexella?
Is T. rex really a boy named Sue?
Leaping lizards— dinosaur find awakens cloning dream
What about Bob?
Dinosaur Meat Discovered
Dino- mite
Not Jurassic Park?
What Sex is That Rex?
No bones about it
What About Bob?
He rex or She rex?
Sex test for T. rex
GEE REX!
News Flash!
At press time, Schweitzer’s
work was ranked # 6 out of the
top 100 science stories of 2005
in the January 2006 issue of
Discover magazine.
6 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
Mathematics student Rachel Levy
won a student paper prize from the
Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics ( SIAM). This is the first
time any NC State student has won
this prestigious competition.
The SIAM Student Paper Prizes are
awarded every year to the authors of
the most outstanding paper submit-ted
to the SIAM competition. The
award is based solely on the merit and
content of the student’s contribution
to their paper. The purpose of the
program is to recognize outstanding
scholarship by students in applied
mathematics or computing.
Among the three 2005 winners
was Levy’s paper titled “ Kinetics and
Nucleation for Driven Thin Film
Flow.” Michael Shearer, professor
of mathematics, was co- author.
Levy is now a post- doctoral
research associate in the Mathematics
Department at Duke University.
SIAM was founded in 1952 to
support and encourage the impor-tant
industrial role that applied
mathematics and computational
science play in advancing science and
technology.
Mathematics student wins
prestigious SIAM award
Mathematics Department brings
world to campus
Early this summer, the Merry Monk
Room in North Hall was all abuzz with
lively conversation in dozens of
accents. Mathematicians from around
the world had gathered at NC State
for an international conference on
“ Lie Algebras, Vertex Operator Algebras
and their Applications,” and the
evening reception was an opportunity
to relax and socialize.
The program included speakers
from Germany, France, Sweden,
Japan and other nations, and was
coordinated by Kailash Misra, profes-sor
of mathematics. The conference
was partially funded by the National
Science Foundation.
The event was just one way in
which the Mathematics Department
is an active participant on the world
stage.
In recent months, the department
also presented a special colloquium
featuring world- renowned mathe-matician
Peter Lax of New York
University’s Courant Institute of
Mathematical Sciences. Lax was the
recipient of the 2004 Abel Prize. The
award, comparable to the Nobel Prize,
is presented by Norway.
Lax is considered as one of the
greatest pure and applied mathe-maticians
of our time, and has made
significant contributions, ranging
from partial differential equations to
applications in engineering. He is also
one of the founders of modern
computational mathematics.
“ These activities provide our
students a wonderful opportunity to
be exposed to the best and brightest
of our field,” said Michael Singer,
professor of mathematics. “ Inter-national
collaborations are becoming
more important, and we have the
quality programs, faculty and stu-dents
to be a key player at that level.”
The Department also received a
grant from the National Science
Foundation for a research and edu-cational
partnership between NC
State and faculty and students at
the Mathematics Mechanization
Research Center of the Academy of
Mathematics and Systems Sciences
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The project involves two work-shops—
one hosted by NC State and
the other in Beijing— to explore
collaborations. The Mathematics
Department is represented in this
effort by faculty members Hoon
Hong, Erich Kaltofen, Michael Singer,
Agnes Szanto and their students.
NC State hosted the first work-shop
this fall, which was attended by
10 Chinese participants. The Beijing
workshop will be held in 2006.
“ International cooperation is key
in the sciences,” said Singer. “ And this
is just an example of the interna-tional
connections and collaborations
in which our faculty are involved.”
Several representatives of the
Mathematics Department posed for a
group shot of the Chinese delegation
attending a workshop on campus.
The NC State representatives are,
as numbered from the left, 2) Wen-
Shin Lee ( Mathematics, PhD ‘ 01),
7) Dr. Irina Kogan, 9) Scott Pope, grad-uate
student, 10) Alexey Ovchinnikov,
graduate student, 11) Itnuit Janovitz,
graduate student, 14) Dr. Michael
Singer, 15) George Yuhasz, graduate
student, 16) Dr. Hoon Hong and
17) Dr. Erich Kaltofen.
COURTESY OF MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT
When he was called about shar-ing
his microscope, Bob Nemanich
said yes. What happened next was
an example of the great things that
happen when scientists of different
disciplines put their heads together.
Since 1930, the incidence of skin
cancer has increased 2,000 percent in
the United States. Lifestyle and ozone
depletion have played a role in the
increase, and one of the risk factors
is being blonde or redheaded. These
individuals are two to four times
more likely than others to develop
melanoma.
John D. Simon, a Duke University
chemist, discovered that skin pig-ments
in redheads react differently in
ultraviolet light from those in people
with dark hair. In fact, redheads’
pigments are more likely to create
free radicals that harm DNA and
possibly cause cancer.
This happens when photons of
ultraviolet light are absorbed by
microscopic pigment particles, a
process that can knock loose
electrons. With help from Nemanich’s
photo electron emission microscope
( or PEEM), this process, which had
never before been observed, was
documented and studied.
Simon and Nemanich are
extending their research to micro-scopically
examine pigment particles
that occur in other places in the
body, including the brain.
Physicist assists in skin cancer discovery
‘ Defective’ nanostructures may lead to
hydrogen energy breakthrough
Scientists at North Carolina State
University have discovered a
nanoscale method for extracting
hydrogen from water that requires
only half the energy of current
hydrogen production methods.
The researchers discovered that
“ defective” carbon nanotubes make it
easier to “ break” water molecules and
extract hydrogen.
The discovery could have big impli-cations,
namely, lower hydrogen pro-duction
costs, for industries looking to
hydrogen as an alternative fuel.
The scientists, led by Dr. Marco
Buongiorno- Nardelli of the Physics
Department, published their results
in the Sept. 30 edition of Physical
Review Letters.
Carbon nanotubes are structures
so small that it takes 1,000 of them
stacked on top of one another to
equal the thickness of a human hair.
They have many potential uses, one
being the ability to facilitate chemical
reactions. Buongiorno- Nardelli’s
team discovered that naturally
occurring defects in the nanotubes
can increase the rate of a chemical
reaction, because the atoms that
form the defective nanotubes are
essentially “ incomplete,” thus making
them more reactive.
“ Normally, when you talk about
chemical reactions in carbon nan-otubes,
you’re imagining that these
reactions are happening in perfectly
formed nanostructures,” said
Buongiorno- Nardelli. “ But the reality
is that these structures have
defects— places where the carbon
atom network is broken. And these
defects can influence the chemical
reaction.”
And that is what the scientists
discovered when they began running
computer models to simulate what
would happen if they used the defec-tive
nanostructures to break water
molecules. The current method for
extracting hydrogen from water
involves heating water molecules to
2,000 degrees Celsius. The high tem-perature
“ breaks” the molecule, and
hydrogen is released.
“ If you want to break a water mole-cule,
you spend a lot less energy if you
do it on this defective carbon material
than if you do it by simply heating the
molecule until it breaks,” Buongiorno-
Nardelli said. “ You can reduce the
energy necessary by a factor of two –
at less than 1,000 degrees.”
However, there are still problems
to solve before a truly catalytic
process can be devised – for example,
how to make it viable for hydrogen
production. The team hopes to col-laborate
with other scientists to
design and construct a nanoscale
chemical reactor that will one day
lead to a cost- and energy- efficient
way to produce hydrogen.
“ We think that nanotechnology
can be used to produce more and
better energy in an environmentally
friendly way,” says Buongiorno-
Nardelli. “ Our experience with water
molecules so far leads me to believe
we’re headed in the right direction.”
The research team includes
Dr. Keith Gubbins, W. H. Clark
Distinguished University Professor
of Chemical and Biomolecular
Engineering; post- doctoral
researcher Milen Kostov; and
students Erik Santiso and Aaron
George.
Visit www. pams. ncsu. edu/ weekend to find a podcast of Dr. Robert Nemanich describing this work as part of
a nanosciences presentation with chemist Dr. Chris Gorman at the PAMS Alumni & Friends Weekend.
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
Dr. Robert Nemanich describes the nanoscience behind a recent discovery
involving redheads’ risk for skin cancer.
8 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
When we hear the word networking,
most of us think of meeting profes-sional
colleagues or potential clients.
Some of us may think of the
Internet, and how computers across
the world are interconnected.
Environmentalists may think of the
network of interdependent species
within a food web.
These are all examples of net-works:
they describe how individu-als—
whether people, computers or
different species— interact with each
other. This forms the basis of a rap-idly
growing area of mathematics
known as network theory.
Infectious diseases have “ known”
about networks for a lot longer than
mathematicians. Their spread from
person to person depends on the pat-tern
of interactions between the
members of the population— the social
network. Network models provide a
way of describing how infectious dis-eases
pass from person to person.
Movies about outbreaks of deadly
diseases always seem to have a scene
featuring a large, computerized map.
“ This is what we can expect in 24
hours, 48, 72…,” a lead character
says, and the map shows red
splotches that spread out from the
nation’s cities into the countryside.
This is not far from the truth,
according to Alun Lloyd, associate
professor of mathematics at NC State
and a member of its graduate
program in biomathematics. Lloyd
uses network approaches to describe
the spread of infectious diseases. He
said that mapping the spread of a
disease across a region is a helpful
way to visualize what is going on
during a disease outbreak.
“ Mathematical models that predict
the spread of pathogens within a pop-ulation
can help us design better con-trol
measures for outbreaks of disease
or bio- or agri- terrorism,” said Lloyd.
“ They also can highlight the features
of populations that can potentially
lead to rapid spread of an infection.’’
Lloyd’s work is part of several
interdisciplinary projects funded by
state and national homeland security
agencies, and other health organ-izations.
Seeking to develop a better
understanding of networking and to
produce better predictive models,
he works with mathematicians,
statisticians, public health experts,
veterinarians, ecologists and
anthropologists.
The wide range of disciplines is
necessary because networking is based
on behavioral characteristics, which
makes the research very complex.
“ To develop good models, we must
understand the movement of people
within a population or society, even
the economic factors that affect this
movement,” Lloyd said. “ In animals,
we must understand the relation-ships
between predator and prey, and
how specific diseases behave in those
populations.”
In people, a disease may be spread
from person to person and can
involve a range of transmission ven-ues—
a simple handshake, a cough or
an exchange of bodily fluids. Or, in
agri- terrorism, one possible tactic
might be to contaminate the food
supply or deliberately infect animals
with some pathogen. This could hap-pen
at a farm, at a supermarket or at
any point in the supply chain.
Different points of introduction or
the use of different pathogens create
different networking patterns, but
most could be accommodated in
models that predict the spread of
disease within a population.
“ In infectious disease, often the
most important people to treat are
those who are most connected to
others because they are both more
likely to catch the disease and have
more opportunities to spread it,”
Lloyd said. “ They act as activity hubs.”
For example, an airborne
pathogen can be quickly spread by
someone who has multiple contacts
with people. Think about a check-out
clerk at a grocery store, or a
salesman making calls on multiple
clients. In a sexually transmitted dis-ease,
the most promiscuous individ-uals
are more likely to spread it, but
certainly not at a rate comparable to
a salesman spreading an airborne
pathogen.
Mathematician models networks to
“ If you can identify and control the
hubs of activity, you can better
manage the spread of the problem.”
— Alun Lloyd
This image illustrates an example of a
social network. The colored circles rep-resent
different people. Lines are drawn
between people who interact regularly:
they might be family members, friends
or work colleagues. Notice that some
people, highlighted in yellow, have
many more interactions than others.
Their larger social circle means that
they would both be more likely to
acquire an infection and more likely to
pass that infection on to others. ( Image
courtesy of Alun Lloyd)
predict spread of disease
There are similarities between
infectious disease and computer
viruses— servers with more connec-tions
to others are more likely to
spread viruses.
“ Network models can also predict
spread of problems in other arenas,
such as the nation’s food supply or
on the electric utility industry’s
power grid,” Lloyd said. “ In each situ-ation,
if you can identify and control
the hubs of activity, you can better
manage the spread of the problem.”
While mathematical models can
help predict spread within a given
population, or a system with known,
predictable connections, such as the
power grid, it is more difficult to pre-dict
spread between populations.
“ It’s more unpredictable how a
disease may move across oceans or
between cities,” Lloyd said. “ But one
thing is clear: intercontinental airline
travel makes it much easier for infec-tions
to sweep across the globe. We
saw this during the 2003 SARS out-break,
with rapid spread of SARS
from China to other far Eastern
countries, and then across the world.’’
It only takes a few infected people
taking long- haul plane journeys to
turn the planet into a “ small world,”
bringing Toronto and Beijing closer
together than their geographical
separation might suggest. In many
ways, this is the same phenomenon
that underlies the “ Six Degrees of
Kevin Bacon”’ game: through a series
of connections through friends, fam-ily,
coworkers and other colleagues,
most of us are only a few steps away
from knowing a celebrity or other
famous figure.
There is a lighter side to network-ing
models. They can be used to gain
better understanding of the spread
of cultural ideas, rumors or even
fashion trends.
“ The recent trend of wearing
baseball caps backwards was started
somewhere by someone, and now it’s
quite common,” Lloyd said.
And what about “ Six Degrees of
Separation?” It turns out that there is
mathematical truth to the idea,
expressed in this 1990 play and sub-sequent
1993 film, that everyone in
the world is connected by a series of
only six acquaintances.
“ Occasionally, long- range associa-tions
quickly connect the seemingly
distant worlds in which people live.
We truly do live in a ‘ small world,’”
Lloyd said.
Faculty/ Staff
Notables
Ralph Smith
( Mathematics)— Associate
Director of Statistical and
Applied Mathematical Sciences
Institute
Roger Woodard ( Statistics)—
Waller Education Award from
the American Statistical
Association
Marie Davidian and Zhao-
Bang Zeng ( Statistics)— William
Neal Reynolds Professors of
Agriculture and Life Sciences
Marie Davidian ( Statistics)—
Alumni Distinguished Research
Award
Tom Reiland ( Statistics)—
Alumni Distinguished
Undergraduate Professor Award
Dennis Boos and Leonard
Stefanski ( Statistics)— D. D.
Mason Faculty Award
Statistics Department— NC
State Departmental Teaching
and Learning Excellence Award
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
Dr. Alun Lloyd
New research building opens
About 250 people got an inside
glimpse into the latest cutting- edge
research at an open house for
Partners III, a new research building
on Centennial Campus.
PAMS hosted the open house in
partnership with the College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences, which
shares the building.
PAMS’ nanosciences research
programs from the Chemistry and
Physics departments occupy about
three- fifths of the building and
include the surface science laboratory,
nanotribology laboratory, the nuclear
magnetic resonance spectroscopy
laboratory, the Center for High
Performance Simulation, and others.
The open house was held in con-junction
with the 20th anniversary
celebration for Centennial Campus.
Attendees included elected
officials, research partners, members
of the campus community and the
general public. They were able to tour
several labs and visit with faculty
and students about their research.
Partners III
10 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
This group of statistics students
enjoyed a visit to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
Answer: 1.6%
PHOTO BY MARCIA GUMPERTZ
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
Statistician leads effort to
faster drug discovery
Jacqueline Hughes- Oliver,
associate professor of statistics,
has received a $ 747,000 grant from
the National Institutes of Health
( NIH) to launch a research project
devoted to helping scientists discover
new drugs more efficiently.
Her research team seeks to
develop statistical and computational
methods to identify compounds that
may be developed into medicines.
Being able to model relationships
between chemical structure and
reactivity creates an important short-cut
in the normally time- and labor-intensive
drug discovery process.
Instead of trial- and- error, scientists
can use computer modeling to
determine more quickly what
chemicals hold promise for use in
disease- treating medications.
This increase in efficiency would
allow scientists to develop drugs
more quickly, and increase the num-ber
of drugs being considered at a
given time.
Because this process would be
quicker and cheaper than conven-tional
drug discovery, it may also lead
to decreased costs that may be
passed on to patients. More impor-tantly,
it would make drug discovery
efforts for rare diseases more
cost- effective for pharmaceutical
companies to pursue.
“ This effort is the newest example
of our department’s 64- year commit-ment
to interdisciplinary research,”
said Sastry Pantula, department
head. “ This initiative will bring
chemists and computer scientists
together with statisticians to work
as a team on important scientific
problems.”
Other NC State faculty members
involved in the research include
Dr. Morteza Khaledi of the Chemistry
Department, Dr. Robert Funderlic of
the Computer Science Department,
and Dr. Gary Howell of the
Information Technology Division.
This work was funded by the
National Institutes of Health through
the NIH Roadmap for Medical
Research. Information on the
Molecular Libraries Roadmap
Initiative can be obtained from
http:// nihroadmap. nih. gov/ molecu-larlibraries/.
Statistics Club visits alumni,
agencies in Washington, DC
On an average day, what percent-age
of all trips taken in the nation
involve public transit: 1.6%, 3.5%,
9.8%, or 16.7%? ( see answer below)
The NC State Statistics Club
learned the answer to this and other
questions during a visit to the Bureau
of Transportation Statistics in
Washington, DC
Each year the club visits two fed-eral
agencies, tours important sites,
and dines with DC- area NC State
alumni. Other agencies visited in the
past have included the Food and Drug
Administration, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, Census Bureau and Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
Professionals at each agency
describe their work, the roles statisti-cians
play in their organizations, the
types of statistical methods they use,
the types of reports they produce,
and share other information.
The trip was topped off by dinner
with NC State alumni B. J. George,
Jennifer Lawhorn, Pam Sims and
Ming Xiong. The students and alumni
particularly appreciated that
American Statistical Association
Executive Director Bill Smith and his
wife, Patricia, joined them for dinner.
This annual trip is an excellent
opportunity for statistics undergrad-uates
to visit federal agencies and
meet with local alumni. If you’re an
NC State alumnus in the DC area, or
a statistician at a federal agency or
DC company, and would like to get
involved, please contact Marcia
Gumpertz at gumpertz@ ncsu. edu.
Dr. Jacqueline Hughes- Oliver
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
Dr. Bruce Weir
New genome map may aid disease research
A team of international scientists,
including Bruce Weir of NC State, has
created a “ map” of the human
genome that will help scientists find
the genetic causes of common dis-eases
like diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Weir is one of more than 60 sci-entists
from around the world
involved in the effort to create a
haplotype map, or “ HapMap,” of the
human genome— a map that pin-points
genetic differences between
people. The researchers’ findings
appear in the Oct. 27 issue of the
journal Nature.
A haplotype is a short piece of a
chromosome. Human DNA contains
23 chromosomes, and these chromo-somes
are almost identical from
person to person. However, there are
places along the genome— the
genetic content within these chro-mosomes—
where variations occur.
Scientists refer to these positions
along the genome as SNPs ( single
nucleotide polymorphisms) or
“ snips.”
The aim of the HapMap is to
provide scientists and medical
researchers with “ addresses” along
the map that will show them where
these genetic variations occur.
“ Most of our diseases have a
genetic component,” Weir said. “ We
need to find out what these genes
are, and to do that we first must dis-cover
where they are. The HapMap
basically identifies landmarks along
the chromosomes so that researchers
can eventually find the genes
responsible for diseases like
Alzheimer’s, diabetes and others.”
These results represent the end of
the first phase of the International
HapMap Project, a study of the
genetic constitution of 269 people of
varying ethnicity: 90 people of
European descent, 90 members of
the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, 45
Chinese residents of Beijing and 44
Japanese residents of Tokyo.
A partnership of scientists from
Canada, China, Japan, Nigeria, the
United Kingdom and the United
States began the project in 2002. The
researchers’ findings are available to
the public via their Web site:
www. hapmap. org.
As a statistician, Weir’s role in the
HapMap project was to help make
sense of the raw data. “ Basically, we
had all these numbers and letters in a
giant computer file of data,” he said.
“ Our team needed to figure out how
this data should best be organized in
order to help other scientists and
researchers use it, and then to do the
organizing.
“ Phase I of the HapMap project
identified 1 million SNPs,” Weir said.
“ We believe that there are 10 million
total positions along the genome
where variations occur, but that
identifying a fraction of them should
be sufficient for our purposes. One of
the HapMap goals is to identify that
fraction.”
Phase II of the HapMap project
should be finished in the near future.
There are also plans to extend the
study to other world populations.
Weir is excited about the future
ramifications of the project.
“ This is really big science— 60
scientists from around the world
working toward a common goal that
will have a huge impact on
mankind,” Weir said
“ Most of our diseases have a
genetic component. We need to
find out what these genes are, and
to do that we first must discover
where they are.”
— Bruce Weir
Weir receives Holladay Medal
Bruce Weir was one of five 2005
recipients of the Alexander Quarles
Holladay Medal for Excellence in
recognition of his outstanding career
at NC State.
The Holladay Medal is the highest
honor bestowed on a faculty member
by the trustees and the university
and recognizes the contributions of
faculty members in teaching,
research and service.
Weir built an international reputa-tion
in population genetics during his
29 years at NC State. His pioneering
work in statistical genetics has broad
impacts, ranging from plant and ani-mal
breeding to bioinformatics and
DNA forensics.
He is the founding director of
NC State’s Bioinformatics Research
Center, and he established the bio-informatics
graduate program. He
also initiated the Summer Institute in
Statistical Genetics, which provides
training for scientists in locations
around the world.
Weir received his PhD in statistics
from NC State in 1968.
Weir is a Fellow of the American
Statistical Association and the
American Association for the
Advancement of Science and an
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society
of New Zealand. His numerous
awards include the Guggenheim
Fellowship, the O. Max Gardner Award,
the Kriz Study Award, D. D. Mason
Award, USDA Superior Service Award
for Scientific Research ( Group Award),
Alumni Outstanding Research Award,
Cook Memorial Prize for Mathematics,
and Fulbright Travel Grant.
12 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
PAMS hosts successful
Alumni & Friends Weekend
More than 180 people attended
the first PAMS Alumni & Friends
Weekend, held Sept. 23– 24. This
special program offered something
for everyone – fun, fellowship and
education.
Kick- Off Luncheon
The weekend began with a Kick-
Off Luncheon in the beautiful three-story
atrium of the Marye Anne Fox
Undergraduate Science Teaching
Laboratory.
Attendees gathered on the first
floor and enjoyed sparkling lemonade
and social time with old and new
friends, before moving upstairs to the
mezzanine level for the luncheon.
As part of the program, Dean
Daniel L. Solomon announced the
kick- off of the public phase of the
university’s capital campaign ( see
related story, page 16). The audience
then saw the premiere of a special
video developed to tell the College’s
story to both prospective students
and potential supporters.
The luncheon keynote speaker
was world- famous paleontologist
Dr. John “ Jack” R. Horner, Regents
Professor of Paleontology at
Montana State University and
Curator of Paleontology at Museum
of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.
As funny as he was informative,
Horner described the basics of how
to find and dig up dinosaur fossils.
He then told the story of how “ Bob”
the T. rex was found. This particular
T. rex was the one in which NC State
paleontologist Mary Schweitzer
found soft dinosaur tissue, a discov-ery
that wowed the world earlier this
year ( see related story, page 5).
“ Bob” was named after the person
who first spotted the T. rex’s toe bone
sticking out of the side of a cliff.
“ I thought I’d taught him better,”
Horner said, as he clicked to a slide
showing Bob hacking away at the
rock… while standing on a folding
chair … precariously perched on a
pile of rocks … on a ledge … on the
side of a mountain.
Horner may be best known as
advisor for Steven Spielberg’s three
“ Jurassic Park” films, and as the basis
for the films’ main character, Dr. Alan
Grant. Horner’s groundbreaking per-spectives
on dinosaur behavior
changed the face of modern paleon-tology.
During a brief Q& A session, he
was asked, among other things, how
realistic he thought the “ Jurassic
Park” movies were.
“ It was a good movie, and good
movies are fictional, so I don’t have a
problem with those,” Horner replied,
then added, “ I know that a T. rex
would eat lawyers,” referring to a
scene in the first movie.
Alumni & Friends College
After lunch, it was time to rush off
to class. Attendees had been able to
select three classes from a series of
12 special topics.
Here, Dr. Jack Horner describes why the T. rex leg bone had to be cut before it could be
lifted from the dig site by helicopter. The fortuitous event led to Dr. Mary Schweitzer
finding soft dinosaur tissue preserved inside the leg.
Luncheon attendees varied by age, and included families.
Faculty members from all five
departments presented short lectures
and discussion sessions, some involv-ing
interactive exercises. Topics
ranged from financial mathematics
to global warming and from
nanoscience to dinosaurs.
“ The classes provided an opportu-nity
to appeal to the natural curiosity
that attracts people to our disci-plines,”
said Anita Stallings, executive
director of development and college
relations. “ Our alumni and friends
continue to enjoy learning long after
they’ve left college.”
Some attendees saw first- hand
how today’s classroom is different.
“ I wasn’t prepared for active par-ticipation
in the classroom demon-strations,”
said one participant.
“ After the initial shock, I liked that
part of the classes best.”
Overall, participants had very
positive reports on their classroom
experiences, and to our knowledge,
no one skipped class.
Friday Night Evening Social
That evening, participants and
College faculty gathered at the
University Club for a department-hosted
reunion social, which fea-tured
a photograph display, heavy
hors d’oeuvres, beverages and live
beach music and oldies by The
Entertainers.
“ While several people enjoyed
dancing, many preferred to talk,”
Stallings said. “ Next year, we’ll provide
ample opportunities for conversation.”
Saturday Gametime Gathering
Weekend participants without
tickets to the NC State/ UNC football
game were invited to a gametime
gathering in a private room at Jillian’s
sports club in downtown Raleigh.
Lawrence Ives ( Physics ‘ 73, ‘ 76,
‘ 84) had said he was going to stand
on the side of the road near the
stadium in hopes of finding a spare
ticket. He thought better of this plan
and showed up at Jillian’s.
“ I decided I’d rather watch the
game with friends,” he said.
And considering the bad luck
experienced by the Wolfpack,
everyone needed the support and
camaraderie of friends.
What about next year?
Throughout the Weekend, parti-cipants
requested that the College
present such a program again. An
online survey provided overwhelm-ingly
positive evaluations, and
suggestions were enthusiastic and
constructive.
The following responses were
typical of those received through the
survey:
“ This event was a great idea, and
a way to get alumni reconnected to
the University and PAMS. I thought
the planning was tremendous. The
faculty did a great job preparing, and
teaching during the courses.”
“ Overall, the Friday luncheon and
sessions were wonderful. I really
enjoyed getting back on campus and
seeing old friends and colleagues.
Thanks!”
“ My wife and I were thoroughly
impressed with all the things PAMS
has accomplished and continues to
accomplish. It is really great to show
off what is happening there. We
congratulate you … Thanks for
including us.”
“ Clearly, our alumni and friends do
want to see this grow into an annual
event,” Stallings said. “ This is very
exciting, and we’re already planning
for next year.”
In “ Classroom of the Future,” Rita Bigham and Connie Moreadith use a calculator to figure out how many paces it takes
to walk across the country.
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
Drs. Len Pietrafesa and Lian Xie discussed current research into hurricanes, including the dangerous flooding left in their wake. Here,
Pietrafesa explains how hurricanes distribute heat across the globe, a critical process that provides an overall temperate environment
in which humans can live.
PHOTOS THIS PAGE BY SALLY RAMEY
14 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
Visit www. pams. ncsu. edu/ week-end,
and you’ll find links to a photo
gallery from the Alumni & Friends
Weekend. You may spot yourself or
some familiar faces.
At this site, you’ll also find audio
podcasts of three classes from the
Alumni & Friends College.
The podcasts can be played with
any general media player on your
computer. The three podcasts include
the following topics:
“ The new frontier of nanoscience,”
featuring chemist Chris Gorman
and physicist Bob Nemanich
“ How search engines work,” with
Carl Meyer of the Mathematics
Department
“ PAMS— Wow, have things
changed,” presented by Dean Dan
Solomon
The podcasts are accompanied by
related PowerPoint presentations.
After listening to the podcasts, please
complete the online evaluations.
Thanks to
Alumni &
Friends College
faculty
The following faculty
prepared and presented special
lectures for the first Alumni &
Friends College.
How Google works—
Carl Meyer, Mathematics
Are your investments
safe?— Jean- Pierre Fouque,
Mathematics
The new frontier of
nanoscience— Chris Gorman,
Chemistry and Robert
Nemanich, Physics
The Galapagos: Islands of
change— John Morrison, Marine,
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Not your daddy’s science
class!— David Haase, Physics;
The Science House
Environmental statistics:
A new source of discovery—
Bill Hunt and Kim Weems,
Statistics
Hurricane!— Len Pietrafesa
and Lian Xie, Marine, Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences
Global warming: Fact or
fiction?— Fred Semazzi, Marine,
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences;
Mathematics
CSI: Raleigh— Chris Basten,
Statistics, Bioinformatics
Research Center
Dinosaurs: Secrets
revealed— Julia Clarke and Mary
Schweitzer, Marine, Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences
Classroom of the future—
Bob Beichner, Physics and Maria
Oliver- Hoyo, Chemistry
PAMS: Wow, have things
changed!— Daniel Solomon,
Dean
Seth Hudson and
Cecily Turner
enjoyed their visit
back to campus.
In “ Not Your Daddy’s Science Class,”
David Haase described some of
today’s innovative approaches to
science and mathematics instruction
that have changed K– 12 schools.
Haase is director of The Science
House, which partners with K– 12
schools to enhance science and
math education.
Jack Penny, Greg and Leigh
Wilkinson and Hien Tran ( stand-ing)
are not pleased by the
progress of the football game.
Weekend photos and podcasts online now
PAMS presents economic development
“ Achieve More Field Day” luncheon
In collaboration with the NC State
Economic Development Partnership
and the Council for Entrepreneurial
Development, the College recently
participated in the Achieve More
Field Day luncheon series.
This outreach program allows NC
State colleges to showcase research
areas that promise to impact future
economic development. Attendees
include venture capitalists, patent
attorneys, investors and serial
entrepreneurs.
The College was represented by
Drs. Jacqueline Krim and Robert
Nemanich of the Physics
Department, and Drs. Dan Comins
and Jon Lindsey of the Chemistry
Department. Each spoke about their
particular area of research, and its
possible future applications.
For example, Comins described
how the nicotine molecule could be
used to provide short- cuts in the
synthesis of certain compounds of
commercial value, leading to quicker,
simpler and cheaper production.
About 60 people attended the
program, and many lingered
afterward to have more detailed
discussions with the speakers.
“ This was a new experience for the
College, and it seems to have pro-duced
concrete results,” said Dean
Daniel L. Solomon. “ One of these
faculty members is now in discus-sions
with a company about a
specific project, and that came about
as a direct result of the luncheon
program.”
Welcome to PAMS Alumni & Friends Society
If you’re reading this, you’re
probably already a member!
After a two- year process of
obtaining ideas and suggestions
from a large number of alumni and
friends, the College has established
an Alumni and Friends Society.
The purpose of the Society is to
develop relationships with alumni and
friends through new and existing
initiatives and to enhance, promote
and support the College’s teaching,
research and outreach programs.
The Society is guided by a board of
advisors. That board includes Cindy
Clark, Bill Donovan, Floyd Green, Scott
Guthrie, Bill McClenny, Wayne Pace,
Jack Penny, Kimberly Potter, Pam
Pittman Robinson, Chuck Wachtel and
Bill White. Also on the board are Leigh
Wilkinson, president, Benton Satter-field,
Jr., vice president and Carl Allen,
secretary.
“ The Society is already off to a
great start,” said Denise Hubbard,
Director of Development. “ They
formed a task force that provided
input, promotions and staffing for
the first Alumni & Friends Weekend,
and several members attended a
welcome dinner for Dr. Jack Horner,
hosted by our outgoing Foundation
president, Connie Moreadith.”
The Society board plans to expand
involvement opportunities for the
College’s alumni and friends. This
includes student recruitment events
and the next Alumni & Friends
Weekend.
“ We are so excited about the
enthusiasm of the board and task force
members,” Hubbard said. “ These indi-viduals
truly understand what a differ-ence
they can make in helping the
College achieve its vision, which will
benefit students for years to come.”
Anyone who has attended the
College is automatically a member of
the Society. Any non- alumnus who
has made a financial contribution to
the College is automatically a mem-ber.
Other non- alumni who wish to
join as a friend may apply for mem-bership
by completing an application.
More information may be found
at www. pams. ncsu. edu/ society.
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
Following the Achieve More Field Day luncheon, faculty presenters visit with participants.
16 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
Fellowship honors Skip Stoddard
University, PAMS announce
Achieve! Campaign
NC State recently announced
Achieve! The Campaign for NC State,
an historic, $ 1 billion university- wide
fundraising effort that will ensure
our ability to transform lives for
generations to come through truly
innovative teaching, research,
extension and public service.
Private gifts raised during this
campaign will be used to allow the
university to assume an even more
dynamic role in shaping the future of
our state, our country and the world.
PAMS made its campaign
announcement at the Alumni &
Friends Weekend Kick- Off Luncheon.
“ It is important to the College that
we build an endowment that allows
us to remove barriers to higher edu-cation,
as well as recruit students of
exceptional merit,” said Dean Daniel
L. Solomon. “ Private endowment will
allow us to support faculty who
teach and mentor students through
classroom instruction and through
opportunities to work in their labora-tories,
leading to advances that will
improve the human condition.”
To date, the College is at 87
percent of its $ 50 million goal, which
is outlined opposite this page.
There have been several key
achievements in the campaign.
More than $ 4.2 million from alumni,
friends, and corporate partners will
provide scholarship and fellowship
support for our students.
PAMS also has received gifts—
from $ 500 to $ 50,000— from
numerous individuals in response to
a challenge grant that will provide
$ 500,000 in endowment for the
College’s premier K– 12 outreach
program, The Science House.
Solomon also recognized
supporters who have made generous
contributions of $ 1,000,000 or more
in support of programs and
endowment:
The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline
Foundation
SAS Institute
John and Ginger Sall
The W. M. Keck Foundation
“ Our vision is a bold and
important one. My thanks to all
of you who choose to invest in our
vision,” he said.
PAMS Campaign Committee Co-chair
John Sall then spoke enthusias-tically
about the campaign, the
College’s progress toward its goal,
and the quality of the College’s pro-grams.
He held aloft a copy of the fall
2005 issue of the Alumni
Association’s magazine, NC STATE—
which had a T. rex on the front.
“ This is the campaign kick- off
issue of the university’s magazine,”
Sall said proudly. “ And our college is
on the cover.”
While PAMS leads
other NC State colleges
in progress toward its
goal, there is a critical
need for endowment
support— permanent
funds that produce income in per-petuity
to support undergraduate
and graduate students, faculty and
programs. Endowed funds are among
the most important resources any
university can have, providing a
source of support that is stable,
stimulates innovation and ensures
the future progress of an institution.
Anita Stallings, executive director
of development and college relations,
said, “ We’re pleased with our
progress in meeting current needs
goals. Our greatest challenge will be
to meet the endowment objectives in
each category. Of our $ 50 million
goal, $ 12.5 million is targeted for
building the PAMS endowment. If
successful, we will more than double
the endowment for the College,
compared to the balance at the
beginning of the campaign.“
If you are interested in making
a gift, or learning more about various
gift options, please see “ How to make
a gift,” opposite this page.
Dr. Edward “ Skip” Stoddard
received a nice surprise recently.
Unknown to him, several of his
friends, colleagues, associates and
former students established the
Skip Stoddard Student Research
Fellowship endowment in the NCSU
Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Foundation.
“ I think it’s wonderful. I’m flat-tered,”
he said. “ And I’m surprised
that they kept it secret.”
Awards supported by this fund
will honor Stoddard’s 30- year career
and recognize his devoted service to
geology students in the Department
of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences. He will retire in 2006.
Specifically, the fund will provide
support for either upper- level under-graduate
geology majors or graduate
students who require support for field
expenses, special analytical work, or
supplies for completion of research.
“ These funds will really be bene-ficial,”
Stoddard said. “ With the types
of field and analytical work our
students do, sometimes you need
just a little bit of additional support
to do one more study to finish a
research project.”
Anyone wishing to contribute to
this fund may follow the instructions
in “ How to make a gift,” located
opposite this page.
PAMS
Campaign
Committee
Eric Bigham
Charles Case
Eric Doggett
Suzanne Gordon
Julie McVay
Connie Moreadith
Emily Mann Peck*
Mike Peirson
Ginger Sall*
John Sall*
* Co- chairs
Bob Jordan – Liaison,
University Committee
Campaign
Kick- Off Task
Force
Carl Allen
Cynthia Clark*
Maureen Droessler
Joe Hackley*
Connie Moreadith
Glenn Osmond
Lynn Osmond
Emily Mann Peck
Tom Rhodes
Nancy Ridenhour
Benton Satterfield, Jr.
Bob Starbuck
Bill White
* Co- chairs
How to
make a gift
You may remember how difficult it
was to manage the expense of higher
education. You may want to help
today’s students achieve their dreams.
The PAMS Foundation provides
many ways to support students,
faculty and programs of the
College. Whether you want to con-tribute
to an existing scholarship,
support a departmental enhance-ment
fund, make a memorial gift,
or consider more significant
support, our staff is available to
help you explore the options.
To support existing funds
To contribute to a scholarship,
fellowship or other fund, fill out our
secure, online gift form at
www. css. ncsu. edu/ pams/ or mail
a check to the NCSU Physical &
Mathematical Sciences Foundation,
Campus Box 8201, Raleigh, NC,
27695. Make checks payable to PAMS
Foundation and write the name of the
fund on the “ notes” or “ for” line.
If your employer provides
matches for charitable donations,
please send a completed matching
gift form with your contribution.
There are many funds not
mentioned in this issue of Scope,
and several have specific designated
uses. If you would like information
on our various funds to help you
decide the best fit for your support,
please give us a call at 919- 515- 3462.
For a list of funds, visit www. pams.
ncsu. edu/ development/ funds. php.
To explore other options
If you have questions about gift
planning, we can help you identify
tax benefits, choose between per-manent
endowment vs. one- time
support, and explore estate
planning or life- income options.
There are many ways to match
your interests with specific College
needs, and several possibilities for
making your vision a reality.
Whether using cash, appreciated
assets, real estate or a bequest,
we can help you find the best way
to make the most of your gift.
Contact us today at
919- 515- 3462 or by e- mail at
pamsalumni@ lists. ncsu. edu.
PAMS Campaign Goals
Endowment Current Needs
Undergraduate and graduate student support $ 6,500,000 $ 3,500,000
$ 10 million will double the current level of support,
providing resources to compete for talented students
and meet financial needs
Faculty support 5,000,000
$ 5 million will endow professorships to recruit and
retain distinguished teaching and research faculty
The Science House/ K– 12 Outreach 1,000,000 2,000,000
$ 3 million will create an endowment to provide
permanent support for The Science House, and fund
current teacher training and student science programs
Facilities and equipment 10,000,000
$ 10 million will leverage existing construction funds
to support modern instructional methods and technologies
Unrestricted support 2,000,000
$ 2 million in flexible, current gifts will allow us
to respond to exciting opportunities, urgent needs and
unexpected challenges
Research and Program Development 20,000,000
$ 20 million will enable us to conduct research and
develop academic programs leading to discoveries
and knowledge that enhance quality of life and
stimulate economic development
Total $ 12,500,000 $ 37,500,000
Total Campaign Needs $ 50,000,000
Increasing private support for students,
faculty, research, and outreach
programs is critical to achieving
our vision. Our objective is to raise
$ 50 million for the following goals,
which were determined by teams
of faculty, alumni and friends.
20%
6%
10%
20%
4%
40%
College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
North Carolina State University
Campus Box 8201
Raleigh, North Carolina 27695– 8201
PRESORTED
FIRST- CLASS MAIL
US POSTAGE
PAID
RALEIGH, NC
PERMIT NO. 2353
scope
The College of Physical and
Mathematical Sciences is made up of
internationally recognized departments:
Physics
Mathematics
Chemistry
Molecular & Structural Biochemistry
Statistics
Marine, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Scope is published by
the College twice per year
Dean Daniel Solomon
Editor Anita Stallings
Writer Sally Ramey
Contributing Writer Tracey Peake
Design Zubigraphics
11,000 copies of this public document were
printed at a cost of $ 6,265.00 or 56¢ per copy.
Understanding
viral dynamics
Viruses are intricate molecular machines com-posed
of multiple copies of proteins and nucleic
acids that perform complex functions, including
self- assembly, nucleic acid packaging and cell
recognition. These attributes make them ideal
for use in medical applications. Viruses are
highly flexible and undergo structural changes,
depending on physiological conditions. This
flexibility plays a key role in the process of
infection, and may prove helpful in using viruses
as cell- specific “ delivery cages” for medications.
Dr. Tatyana Smirnova of the Chemistry
Department, in collaboration with Dr. Steven
Lommel of the Department of Plant Pathology, is
using novel spectroscopic methods to monitor
viral motion as they undergo structural changes.
Funded by the National Science Foundation,
this research program aims to gain better
understanding of the molecular mechanism of
metal ion- induced structural transformations
observed in plant viruses.
The image above is a ribbon diagram of the Red clover necrotic
mosaic virus’ basic protein unit that comprises the virus’ shell.
The image was generated in MOLMOL software, based on a
cryo- EM reconstruction by Smirnova’s research colleague
Dr. Michael Sherman, Department of Molecular Biology,
University of Texas Medical Center, Galveston. Sixty copies
of this basic unit form the complete virus shell structure.

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

NC STATE UNIVERSITY
FALL/ WINTER 2005
Predicting how disease spreads
This mathematician is developing network models that
will predict how disease spreads through populations,
critical in handling outbreaks of bio- terrorism,
influenza or other infectious diseases.
IN THIS ISSUE Hurricane season prediction 3 New genome map 11 Alumni & Friends Weekend report 12
scope A L O O K I N S I D E THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
As we’ve spoken with alumni
and friends over the last few years,
they’re often surprised to learn
how the College has changed—
about its educational innovations,
the impact of our research and the
scope of our programs. They’re
also very proud of the changes,
and have expressed the desire to
get involved.
This is an exciting time for our
College. Our students and faculty
are doing tremendous work and
we want to make our alumni and
friends part of it. We’ve just
hosted our first Alumni & Friends
Weekend, and we keep receiving
requests to make this an annual
event. We’ve recently started a
society for our alumni and friends,
and the society’s leadership is
eager to help us achieve our
vision, stated below.
The College’s vision is a bold one,
but it’s one we work toward every
day. It provides us with a sense of
purpose, and of who we are.
Our vision is about impact. In
this issue of Scope you’ll see
examples of the impacts our stu-dents
and faculty are making. The
cover story discusses modeling the
spread of disease, a timely topic
given concerns about an avian flu
pandemic. A PAMS physicist has
found a possible key to developing
efficient fuel cells. Another faculty
member is developing a faster way
to develop life- saving drugs, while
yet another continues to amaze
the world with what she’s learning
from soft dinosaur tissue.
We’re also making meaningful
impacts in other ways. A recent
economic development luncheon
showcasing our faculty led to
ongoing discussions with a local
company about a potential part-nership.
In anticipation of an active
hurricane season, we partnered
with Congressman Bob Etheridge
on a regional hurricane summit
that presented the latest informa-tion
about these dangerous storms
and how to handle their aftermath.
And we’re at 87 percent of an
ambitious $ 50 million fundraising
goal that will provide support for
our students, faculty and programs.
The College is doing great
things, driven by a vision that is
bold yet achievable. As our alumni
and friends, you share in this
vision. Your support, leadership
and participation are very impor-tant
to our students and faculty,
and we are all very appreciative.
We hope to continue making
you proud.
Daniel L. Solomon, Dean
A powerful vision
PAMS
Foundation
2005– 06 Board
of Directors
Officers
W. Donald Johnson, President
Eric L. Doggett, Vice President
Anita C. Stallings, Secretary
Kathryn S. Hart, Treasurer
Charles D. Leffler, Assistant Treasurer
General Members
Charles Case
Roy Cromartie
Eric Doggett
Maureen Droessler
Stephen Frye
Ned Guttman
Lawrence Ives
Don Johnson
Charles Joyner
Rob Lindberg
Preston Linn
Marty Mascianica
Connie Moreadith
Dale Newton
Mike Peirson
Tom Rhodes
Nancy Ridenhour
John Ryals
John Sall
Cathy Sigal
Cecil Smith
Glen Snider
Robert Starbuck
Herb Strickler
Michael Thompson
Bill White
Leigh Wilkinson
Glen Williams
Meredith Williams
Christian Wypasek
Miriam Zietlow
Emeritus
Richard Cook
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
Dean Dan Solomon, Dr. Robert Nemanich and Dr. Jay Baliga visit one of Nemanich’s new physics laboratories in Partners III
on Centennial Campus. ( see related story, page 9)
Vision Statement
We will continue our tradition of overall educational excellence and research
quality while achieving world- wide prominence in strategically chosen areas—
areas that are shaped by the national agendas for science, that build upon our
strengths, and that offer opportunities to improve our economy, our environment
and the human condition.
scope A L O O K I N S I D E THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
see page 8
FALL/ WINTER 2005
Honors
Schweitzer in “ science fair” for Congress 5
Mathematics student wins prestigious SIAM award 6
Weir receives Holladay Medal 11
Alumni and Development news
Statistics Club visits alumni, agencies in Washington, DC 10
PAMS hosts successful Alumni & Friends Weekend 12
Welcome to the PAMS Alumni & Friends Society 15
University, PAMS announce Achieve! Campaign 16
Fellowship honors Skip Stoddard 16
Just for fun
What about Bob? 5
Weekend photos and podcasts online now 14
In this issue…
On the cover: Mathematician Alun Lloyd sketches a network diagram on plexiglass. ( Photo by Roger Winstead)
PAMS Celebrate
Achievement!
September 23 – 24, 2005
Alumni and Friends Weekend!
see page 12
College news
College announces new leadership 2
Forecasting to save lives— PAMS hosts hurricane summit 3
Mathematics Department brings world to campus 6
New research building opens 9
PAMS presents economic development luncheon 15
Research highlights
PAMS introduces new hurricane season prediction method 3
Key geologic map updated 4
‘ Bob’ is a girl … and she’s pregnant! 5
‘ Defective’ nanostructures may lead to hydrogen energy breakthrough 7
Physicist assists in skin cancer discovery 7
Mathematician models networks to predict spread of disease 8
Statistician leads effort to faster drug discovery 10
New genome map may aid disease research 11
www. pams. ncsu. edu/ weekend
2 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
Paesler named
head of Physics
Department
Dr. Michael Paesler has been
named head of the Department of
Physics. He succeeds Chris Gould,
who served as head for 10 years.
Paesler joined the NC State faculty
as an assistant professor of physics in
1980 and was promoted to full pro-fessor
in 1990. He has served as the
director of graduate programs in
physics since 1997.
Paesler’s research focuses on syn-chrotron
radiation investigations of
chalcogenide glasses. Advances made
in this effort may find applications
in developing switchable computer
interconnects.
While at NC State, Paesler has
taken leave to serve as a guest pro-fessor
at universities in France and
Germany. He is a fellow of the
American Physical Society ( APS), a
member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi,
and the NC State Academy of
Outstanding Teachers.
This year Paesler was appointed to
two national committees: the APS
Task Force on Graduate Education
and the American Association of
Physics Teachers Graduate Education
Committee.
Paesler received his bachelor’s
degree from Beloit College in 1968,
and his PhD from the University of
Chicago in 1975.
Paesler is believed to be the only
NC State faculty member to have
ever swum across the English
Channel.
Gould named
associate dean
Dr. Christopher Gould has been
named associate dean for admin-istration
for the College.
Gould served as head of the
Department of Physics since 1995.
He joined the NC State faculty as an
assistant professor of physics in 1971,
and became a full professor in 1983.
Gould is a nuclear physicist whose
research focuses on the properties of
neutrons and neutrinos. The work has
applications in medical physics and
in reactor safeguards, and has impli-cations
for the understanding of the
matter anti- matter asymmetry in the
universe, and the formation of heavy
elements in stars.
Gould is a fellow of the American
Physical Society, and a member of
the Sigma Xi, Sigma Pi Sigma and
Sigma Iota Ro honor societies. He
was elected to the NC State Academy
of Outstanding Teachers in 1985 and
was recognized as an NC State
Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate
Professor in 1990.
He has held visiting appointments
at Los Alamos National Laboratory,
the Institute for Nuclear Physics in
Frankfurt, Germany, and the Institute
of Atomic Energy in Beijing, China.
He currently serves on the fellowship
committee of the APS Division of
Nuclear Physics, and as chair of the
Los Alamos Neutron Science Center
Users Group.
Gould received his bachelor’s
degree from the Imperial College,
London in 1965, and his PhD from the
University of Pennsylvania in 1969.
He is spending fall semester as a
Scholar in Residence at the Oak Ridge
Center for Advanced Studies.
Khaledi named
Chemistry chair
Dr. Morteza Khaledi has been
named chair of the Department of
Chemistry.
Khaledi joined the NC State fac-ulty
in 1988 as an assistant professor
of analytical chemistry and was pro-moted
to full professor in 1997. He is
a member of the American Chemical
Society and the national chemical
honor society, Phi Lambda Upsilon.
He has served as a member of the
scientific review panels for the
National Institutes of Health ( NIH)
and on the editorial advisory boards
of several journals. He has delivered
more than 70 invited lectures at
international meetings, symposia and
workshops, and has published more
than 100 scholarly articles.
A specialist in liquid and electro-kinetic
chromatography, Khaledi has
received numerous grants from the
NIH, including the FIRST Award in
1989.
Khaledi earned his bachelor’s
degree of science from the University
of Shiraz in Iran in 1978, and his PhD
from the University of Florida in
1984.
He succeeds Bruce Novak, who
has returned to the faculty ranks
after six years of service as depart-ment
head. The department faculty
recently voted to convert to a
chairmanship structure.
College announces new leadership
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
Dr. Michael Paesler
Dr. Christopher Gould Dr. Morteza Khaledi
Forecasting to save lives— PAMS hosts
regional hurricane summit
The College and the Department
of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences partnered with
Congressman Bob Etheridge to
present a hurricane summit on the
first day of the 2005 hurricane
season. The program was a follow- up
to a similar summit held in 2001.
The summit provided an oppor-tunity
for emergency management
professionals from both the public
and private sectors to hear the latest
information about hurricane fore-casting
research and technology.
Gen. David L. Johnson, director
of the National Weather Service,
was the keynote speaker. Presenters
included representatives from
the NC Division of Crime Control
and Public Safety, NC Division
of Emergency Management, the
Severe Storms Lab and local news
media.
NC State panelists included
Drs. Len Pietrafesa and Lian Xie, and
research associate Shaowu Bao, all of
the Department of Marine, Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences. During his
presentation, Xie announced a new
seasonal forecast model which
features the first attempt to include
landfall in specific regions. ( See
related story below.)
Topics included public education
and communications issues, and the
state of various forecasting and
modeling technologies, including
flood models that will prove very
helpful to emergency managers in
planning response and recovery
following major storms.
About 80 people attended the
meeting, which included poster pre-sentations
by several meteorology
students.
Just as the 2005 record- breaking
hurricane season started, researchers
at NC State announced a new model
for predicting the number of hurri-canes
likely to form in the Atlantic
Ocean, as well as the number of
those hurricanes likely to threaten
the eastern seaboard. This is the first
attempt at a seasonal forecast that
includes landfall in specific regions.
In an article published in a recent
issue of Geophysical Research
Letters, Dr. Lian Xie of Marine, Earth
and Atmospheric Sciences, along
with colleagues Dr. Leonard
Pietrafesa and graduate student
Tingzhaung Yan, describe the
methodology they used in creating
their prediction model as well as the
results of their analysis. Also involved
in the research were Dr. Dave Dickey
of the Statistics Department, and Dr.
Tom Karl of the NOAA National
Climatic Data Center in Asheville.
The mathematical model evalu-ates
data from the last 100 years on
Atlantic Ocean hurricane positions
and intensity, as well as other vari-ables
including weather patterns and
sea surface temperatures, in order to
predict how many storms will form
and where they will make landfall.
“ The most important factor in
determining the probability of land-fall
was the temperature difference
between the North and South
Atlantic Oceans,” says Xie. “ When
we looked at the histories of these
storms we discovered that if the
water in the North Atlantic was
warmer than in the South Atlantic,
landfall on the eastern seaboard of
the United States became more
likely.”
Based on their data, the
researchers believed that five to six
hurricanes would form in the Atlantic
during the June 1– Nov. 30 hurricane
season. Of those, two to three were
deemed likely to impact the eastern
seaboard of the United States.
However, the 2005 season sur-prised
everyone. As early as mid- July,
those with established hurricane
seasonal forecasts were updating
their data to accommodate the
higher level of activity. As of press
time, 26 named storms had formed,
using up the season’s list of names
and forcing meteorologists to use
the Greek letters Alpha, Beta,
Gamma, Delta and Epsilon as storm
names. Of these storms, 14 became
hurricanes, one of which, Wilma,
became the most powerful Atlantic
hurricane in history.
So how did NC State’s new
prediction method perform? At press
time, there have been seven hurri-canes
that formed in the Atlantic,
and two east coast landfalls— either
within or close to the parameters of
the new prediction method. Some of
this season’s many storms seemed to
have formed in the Atlantic, but
actually formed in the Caribbean.
This study is co- sponsored by the
National Climatic Data Center and
the Coastal Services Center of NOAA,
as a component of the NOAA/ NCSU
Cooperative Program on Climate and
Weather Impacts on Society and the
Environment ( CWISE).
PAMS introduces new hurricane
season prediction method
Meredith Croke was one of several students who made poster presentations of their research projects at the hurricane summit.
Here, she discusses her tropical cyclone precipitation research with summit participants during a break in the program.
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
4 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
PHOTOS BY SALLY RAMEY
James P. Hibbard led efforts to
revise an important reference map
detailing major geologic features of
the Appalachians from Alabama to
Newfoundland. Hibbard is a professor
in the Department of Marine, Earth
and Atmospheric Sciences, specializ-ing
in structural geology and
Appalachian tectonics.
While a graduate student at
Memorial University of
Newfoundland in 1978, Hibbard
helped Dr. Hank Williams develop the
original map, which identified major
bedrock divisions in relation to their
ages and the geologic environments
in which they formed.
The first of its kind, this lithotec-tonic
map became an important
reference for geologists, mining
companies, environmental scientists,
university faculty and students, pale-ontologists—
virtually anyone inter-ested
in the mountain chain’s geology.
Since then, scientists have
collected an incredible amount of
additional information, Hibbard said,
creating a new map with little resem-blance
to the old. Its main purpose
remains as a reference for anyone
interested in Appalachian bedrock
geology.
For example, companies targeting
granites of a specific age will better
understand their distribution.
Likewise, the map identifies the
potential distribution of mineral
deposits or even natural hazards
such as sinkholes. Academics will find
it useful in developing models for the
distribution of continental masses at
different time periods.
The new map is color- coded by
age, with texture patterns distin-guishing
between major classifica-tions
of rock type. If one knows how
to read the map, ancient shorelines
are easily visible along the 8.5- foot
map’s 2,000- mile view.
“ It’s a storybook about the
Appalachians,” Hibbard said. “ It pro-vides
regional geological context for
the mountain belt. You can see how
it was built.”
While updating the map, the team
made some unexpected discoveries,
including a line of locations where
Devonian granite has intruded up
into older volcanic rock in North and
South Carolina.
“ This could represent the track of
an ancient volcanic ‘ hotspot’ that
periodically erupted up through the
continental crust as it moved across
the hotspot, much like the hotspot
that is now under Yellowstone
National Park,” he said.
Today’s Geographical Information
Systems ( GIS) technology gave the
map a new feature – digitization.
Now, the map is a living document
that can readily accept future revi-sions,
or be manipulated into cus-tomized
maps for research or
educational purposes. It can serve as
a GIS base map for virtually all types
of geological data, including paleon-tological,
geophysical, geochemical,
geochronological, etc. Likewise, it can
accept overlays of other data.
“ The map’s potential applications
are endless, and not confined to
geology. It gives meaning to a variety
of data in the context of the moun-tain
belt,” Hibbard said. “ Just as the
1978 map served as the basis and
inspiration for research in the region,
we hope the new map will stimulate
research for years to come.”
The five- year effort to revise the
map involved a team representing NC
State, the U. S. Geological Survey, the
Canadian Geological Survey and the
Memorial University of Newfound-land.
The project was funded by the
National Science Foundation.
Key geologic map updated
This image is of a small section
of the 1978 map.
This image is of the corresponding section of the new map. The additional detail is
clearly obvious. The purple spots in the orange area across the middle of the image may
be evidence of an ancient volcanic “ hot spot.”
PHOTO BY SCARONE PHOTOGRAPHY
‘ Bob’ is a girl … and she’s pregnant!
Paleontologist Mary Higby
Schweitzer and her technician,
Jennifer Wittmeyer, have determined
that a 68 million year- old
Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil from
Montana is that of a young female,
and that she was producing eggs
when she died.
The scientists found unusual bone
tissue lining the hollow cavity of a
leg bone from “ Bob,” a T. rex found in
Montana’s Hell Creek formation. This
is the same fossil in which the team
had discovered remarkably well- pre-served
soft tissue appearing to con-tain
blood vessels and possibly even
red blood cells.
In a paper published in the June 3
issue of the journal Science,
Schweitzer, assistant professor of pale-ontology
with a joint appointment at
the NC Museum of Natural Sciences,
Wittmeyer, and colleagues at Montana
State University said this particular tis-sue
provides evidence of the
dinosaur’s gender and a connection
between the extinct giants and living
birds, specifically ostriches and emus.
Schweitzer believes that the tissue
inside the T. rex bone is medullary
bone. This reproductive bone tissue
forms inside the hollow leg bones of
birds during ovulation and persists
until the last egg is laid, at which time
it is reabsorbed into the bird’s body. Its
formation is triggered by an increase
in estrogen levels, and it provides the
calcium necessary to form eggshells.
Medullary bone is only found in pres-ent-
day female birds. No other egg-laying
species produces this tissue
naturally – including crocodiles, the
other living dinosaur relative.
Because the dinosaur tissue didn’t
look exactly like medullary bone in
living birds like chicken and quail,
Schweitzer’s team compared it to
that of more primitive ratites, or
flightless birds, such as ostriches and
emus. These birds share more fea-tures
with dinosaurs than other
present- day birds.
Viewed under both a light and an
electron microscope, the dinosaur
tissues are virtually identical to those
of the modern birds in form, location
and distribution. Demineralization—
the chemical removal of a bone’s
minerals in order to obtain organic
material that is much easier to work
with in a lab environment— of the
samples revealed that the medullary
bone from the ostrich and emu was
virtually identical in structure, orien-tation
and even color, with that seen
in the T. rex.
Since only females produce
medullary bone, its presence indicates
that “ Bob” was actually a female, and
probably died toward the end of her
laying cycle. From a biological per-spective,
the tissue is another link
between dinosaurs and living birds.
“ The discovery of medullary bone
in the T. rex is important because it
allows us to objectively sex a
dinosaur,” said Schweitzer. “ It also
adds to the robust support linking
birds and dinosaurs and shows that
their reproductive physiologies may
have been similar. Hopefully we’ll be
able to identify features within
dinosaurs that will help us determine
the gender of other fossils, and lead
to more information about their herd
structure or family groups.”
The NC Museum of Natural
Sciences in downtown Raleigh
recently became home to a cast of
the thigh bone, making it available to
the public to see.
This research was funded by NC
State, the NC Museum of Natural
Sciences and the National Science
Foundation.
Schweitzer appears in “ science fair” for Congress
Mary Higby Schweitzer was one of 38 researchers invited to present an exhibit at the Coalition for National Science Funding’s
annual exhibition in Washington, DC Designed to encourage funding for the National Science Foundation ( NSF), the event pres-ents
a selection of exhibits representing the variety of research funded by the NSF. The exhibition and reception are held for
members of Congress and the White House staff. While there, Schweitzer also visited the offices of several NC legislators. Here,
she talks with NC Sixth District Representative Howard Coble.
The recent dual discoveries of soft dinosaur tissue,
and the medullary bone described in this article,
made headlines around the globe. Coverage of this research appeared in thousands of newspapers and magazines,
and on radio, television… even The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The subject matter allowed headline writers to be
very creative. Here are some favorites:
NC State discovers T. rex’s softer side
Experts claim they found T. rex innards
T. rex breakthrough a grand ‘ cell’ebration
Paleontologists are thrilled to the bone
Should we call her T- rexella?
Is T. rex really a boy named Sue?
Leaping lizards— dinosaur find awakens cloning dream
What about Bob?
Dinosaur Meat Discovered
Dino- mite
Not Jurassic Park?
What Sex is That Rex?
No bones about it
What About Bob?
He rex or She rex?
Sex test for T. rex
GEE REX!
News Flash!
At press time, Schweitzer’s
work was ranked # 6 out of the
top 100 science stories of 2005
in the January 2006 issue of
Discover magazine.
6 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
Mathematics student Rachel Levy
won a student paper prize from the
Society for Industrial and Applied
Mathematics ( SIAM). This is the first
time any NC State student has won
this prestigious competition.
The SIAM Student Paper Prizes are
awarded every year to the authors of
the most outstanding paper submit-ted
to the SIAM competition. The
award is based solely on the merit and
content of the student’s contribution
to their paper. The purpose of the
program is to recognize outstanding
scholarship by students in applied
mathematics or computing.
Among the three 2005 winners
was Levy’s paper titled “ Kinetics and
Nucleation for Driven Thin Film
Flow.” Michael Shearer, professor
of mathematics, was co- author.
Levy is now a post- doctoral
research associate in the Mathematics
Department at Duke University.
SIAM was founded in 1952 to
support and encourage the impor-tant
industrial role that applied
mathematics and computational
science play in advancing science and
technology.
Mathematics student wins
prestigious SIAM award
Mathematics Department brings
world to campus
Early this summer, the Merry Monk
Room in North Hall was all abuzz with
lively conversation in dozens of
accents. Mathematicians from around
the world had gathered at NC State
for an international conference on
“ Lie Algebras, Vertex Operator Algebras
and their Applications,” and the
evening reception was an opportunity
to relax and socialize.
The program included speakers
from Germany, France, Sweden,
Japan and other nations, and was
coordinated by Kailash Misra, profes-sor
of mathematics. The conference
was partially funded by the National
Science Foundation.
The event was just one way in
which the Mathematics Department
is an active participant on the world
stage.
In recent months, the department
also presented a special colloquium
featuring world- renowned mathe-matician
Peter Lax of New York
University’s Courant Institute of
Mathematical Sciences. Lax was the
recipient of the 2004 Abel Prize. The
award, comparable to the Nobel Prize,
is presented by Norway.
Lax is considered as one of the
greatest pure and applied mathe-maticians
of our time, and has made
significant contributions, ranging
from partial differential equations to
applications in engineering. He is also
one of the founders of modern
computational mathematics.
“ These activities provide our
students a wonderful opportunity to
be exposed to the best and brightest
of our field,” said Michael Singer,
professor of mathematics. “ Inter-national
collaborations are becoming
more important, and we have the
quality programs, faculty and stu-dents
to be a key player at that level.”
The Department also received a
grant from the National Science
Foundation for a research and edu-cational
partnership between NC
State and faculty and students at
the Mathematics Mechanization
Research Center of the Academy of
Mathematics and Systems Sciences
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The project involves two work-shops—
one hosted by NC State and
the other in Beijing— to explore
collaborations. The Mathematics
Department is represented in this
effort by faculty members Hoon
Hong, Erich Kaltofen, Michael Singer,
Agnes Szanto and their students.
NC State hosted the first work-shop
this fall, which was attended by
10 Chinese participants. The Beijing
workshop will be held in 2006.
“ International cooperation is key
in the sciences,” said Singer. “ And this
is just an example of the interna-tional
connections and collaborations
in which our faculty are involved.”
Several representatives of the
Mathematics Department posed for a
group shot of the Chinese delegation
attending a workshop on campus.
The NC State representatives are,
as numbered from the left, 2) Wen-
Shin Lee ( Mathematics, PhD ‘ 01),
7) Dr. Irina Kogan, 9) Scott Pope, grad-uate
student, 10) Alexey Ovchinnikov,
graduate student, 11) Itnuit Janovitz,
graduate student, 14) Dr. Michael
Singer, 15) George Yuhasz, graduate
student, 16) Dr. Hoon Hong and
17) Dr. Erich Kaltofen.
COURTESY OF MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT
When he was called about shar-ing
his microscope, Bob Nemanich
said yes. What happened next was
an example of the great things that
happen when scientists of different
disciplines put their heads together.
Since 1930, the incidence of skin
cancer has increased 2,000 percent in
the United States. Lifestyle and ozone
depletion have played a role in the
increase, and one of the risk factors
is being blonde or redheaded. These
individuals are two to four times
more likely than others to develop
melanoma.
John D. Simon, a Duke University
chemist, discovered that skin pig-ments
in redheads react differently in
ultraviolet light from those in people
with dark hair. In fact, redheads’
pigments are more likely to create
free radicals that harm DNA and
possibly cause cancer.
This happens when photons of
ultraviolet light are absorbed by
microscopic pigment particles, a
process that can knock loose
electrons. With help from Nemanich’s
photo electron emission microscope
( or PEEM), this process, which had
never before been observed, was
documented and studied.
Simon and Nemanich are
extending their research to micro-scopically
examine pigment particles
that occur in other places in the
body, including the brain.
Physicist assists in skin cancer discovery
‘ Defective’ nanostructures may lead to
hydrogen energy breakthrough
Scientists at North Carolina State
University have discovered a
nanoscale method for extracting
hydrogen from water that requires
only half the energy of current
hydrogen production methods.
The researchers discovered that
“ defective” carbon nanotubes make it
easier to “ break” water molecules and
extract hydrogen.
The discovery could have big impli-cations,
namely, lower hydrogen pro-duction
costs, for industries looking to
hydrogen as an alternative fuel.
The scientists, led by Dr. Marco
Buongiorno- Nardelli of the Physics
Department, published their results
in the Sept. 30 edition of Physical
Review Letters.
Carbon nanotubes are structures
so small that it takes 1,000 of them
stacked on top of one another to
equal the thickness of a human hair.
They have many potential uses, one
being the ability to facilitate chemical
reactions. Buongiorno- Nardelli’s
team discovered that naturally
occurring defects in the nanotubes
can increase the rate of a chemical
reaction, because the atoms that
form the defective nanotubes are
essentially “ incomplete,” thus making
them more reactive.
“ Normally, when you talk about
chemical reactions in carbon nan-otubes,
you’re imagining that these
reactions are happening in perfectly
formed nanostructures,” said
Buongiorno- Nardelli. “ But the reality
is that these structures have
defects— places where the carbon
atom network is broken. And these
defects can influence the chemical
reaction.”
And that is what the scientists
discovered when they began running
computer models to simulate what
would happen if they used the defec-tive
nanostructures to break water
molecules. The current method for
extracting hydrogen from water
involves heating water molecules to
2,000 degrees Celsius. The high tem-perature
“ breaks” the molecule, and
hydrogen is released.
“ If you want to break a water mole-cule,
you spend a lot less energy if you
do it on this defective carbon material
than if you do it by simply heating the
molecule until it breaks,” Buongiorno-
Nardelli said. “ You can reduce the
energy necessary by a factor of two –
at less than 1,000 degrees.”
However, there are still problems
to solve before a truly catalytic
process can be devised – for example,
how to make it viable for hydrogen
production. The team hopes to col-laborate
with other scientists to
design and construct a nanoscale
chemical reactor that will one day
lead to a cost- and energy- efficient
way to produce hydrogen.
“ We think that nanotechnology
can be used to produce more and
better energy in an environmentally
friendly way,” says Buongiorno-
Nardelli. “ Our experience with water
molecules so far leads me to believe
we’re headed in the right direction.”
The research team includes
Dr. Keith Gubbins, W. H. Clark
Distinguished University Professor
of Chemical and Biomolecular
Engineering; post- doctoral
researcher Milen Kostov; and
students Erik Santiso and Aaron
George.
Visit www. pams. ncsu. edu/ weekend to find a podcast of Dr. Robert Nemanich describing this work as part of
a nanosciences presentation with chemist Dr. Chris Gorman at the PAMS Alumni & Friends Weekend.
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
Dr. Robert Nemanich describes the nanoscience behind a recent discovery
involving redheads’ risk for skin cancer.
8 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
When we hear the word networking,
most of us think of meeting profes-sional
colleagues or potential clients.
Some of us may think of the
Internet, and how computers across
the world are interconnected.
Environmentalists may think of the
network of interdependent species
within a food web.
These are all examples of net-works:
they describe how individu-als—
whether people, computers or
different species— interact with each
other. This forms the basis of a rap-idly
growing area of mathematics
known as network theory.
Infectious diseases have “ known”
about networks for a lot longer than
mathematicians. Their spread from
person to person depends on the pat-tern
of interactions between the
members of the population— the social
network. Network models provide a
way of describing how infectious dis-eases
pass from person to person.
Movies about outbreaks of deadly
diseases always seem to have a scene
featuring a large, computerized map.
“ This is what we can expect in 24
hours, 48, 72…,” a lead character
says, and the map shows red
splotches that spread out from the
nation’s cities into the countryside.
This is not far from the truth,
according to Alun Lloyd, associate
professor of mathematics at NC State
and a member of its graduate
program in biomathematics. Lloyd
uses network approaches to describe
the spread of infectious diseases. He
said that mapping the spread of a
disease across a region is a helpful
way to visualize what is going on
during a disease outbreak.
“ Mathematical models that predict
the spread of pathogens within a pop-ulation
can help us design better con-trol
measures for outbreaks of disease
or bio- or agri- terrorism,” said Lloyd.
“ They also can highlight the features
of populations that can potentially
lead to rapid spread of an infection.’’
Lloyd’s work is part of several
interdisciplinary projects funded by
state and national homeland security
agencies, and other health organ-izations.
Seeking to develop a better
understanding of networking and to
produce better predictive models,
he works with mathematicians,
statisticians, public health experts,
veterinarians, ecologists and
anthropologists.
The wide range of disciplines is
necessary because networking is based
on behavioral characteristics, which
makes the research very complex.
“ To develop good models, we must
understand the movement of people
within a population or society, even
the economic factors that affect this
movement,” Lloyd said. “ In animals,
we must understand the relation-ships
between predator and prey, and
how specific diseases behave in those
populations.”
In people, a disease may be spread
from person to person and can
involve a range of transmission ven-ues—
a simple handshake, a cough or
an exchange of bodily fluids. Or, in
agri- terrorism, one possible tactic
might be to contaminate the food
supply or deliberately infect animals
with some pathogen. This could hap-pen
at a farm, at a supermarket or at
any point in the supply chain.
Different points of introduction or
the use of different pathogens create
different networking patterns, but
most could be accommodated in
models that predict the spread of
disease within a population.
“ In infectious disease, often the
most important people to treat are
those who are most connected to
others because they are both more
likely to catch the disease and have
more opportunities to spread it,”
Lloyd said. “ They act as activity hubs.”
For example, an airborne
pathogen can be quickly spread by
someone who has multiple contacts
with people. Think about a check-out
clerk at a grocery store, or a
salesman making calls on multiple
clients. In a sexually transmitted dis-ease,
the most promiscuous individ-uals
are more likely to spread it, but
certainly not at a rate comparable to
a salesman spreading an airborne
pathogen.
Mathematician models networks to
“ If you can identify and control the
hubs of activity, you can better
manage the spread of the problem.”
— Alun Lloyd
This image illustrates an example of a
social network. The colored circles rep-resent
different people. Lines are drawn
between people who interact regularly:
they might be family members, friends
or work colleagues. Notice that some
people, highlighted in yellow, have
many more interactions than others.
Their larger social circle means that
they would both be more likely to
acquire an infection and more likely to
pass that infection on to others. ( Image
courtesy of Alun Lloyd)
predict spread of disease
There are similarities between
infectious disease and computer
viruses— servers with more connec-tions
to others are more likely to
spread viruses.
“ Network models can also predict
spread of problems in other arenas,
such as the nation’s food supply or
on the electric utility industry’s
power grid,” Lloyd said. “ In each situ-ation,
if you can identify and control
the hubs of activity, you can better
manage the spread of the problem.”
While mathematical models can
help predict spread within a given
population, or a system with known,
predictable connections, such as the
power grid, it is more difficult to pre-dict
spread between populations.
“ It’s more unpredictable how a
disease may move across oceans or
between cities,” Lloyd said. “ But one
thing is clear: intercontinental airline
travel makes it much easier for infec-tions
to sweep across the globe. We
saw this during the 2003 SARS out-break,
with rapid spread of SARS
from China to other far Eastern
countries, and then across the world.’’
It only takes a few infected people
taking long- haul plane journeys to
turn the planet into a “ small world,”
bringing Toronto and Beijing closer
together than their geographical
separation might suggest. In many
ways, this is the same phenomenon
that underlies the “ Six Degrees of
Kevin Bacon”’ game: through a series
of connections through friends, fam-ily,
coworkers and other colleagues,
most of us are only a few steps away
from knowing a celebrity or other
famous figure.
There is a lighter side to network-ing
models. They can be used to gain
better understanding of the spread
of cultural ideas, rumors or even
fashion trends.
“ The recent trend of wearing
baseball caps backwards was started
somewhere by someone, and now it’s
quite common,” Lloyd said.
And what about “ Six Degrees of
Separation?” It turns out that there is
mathematical truth to the idea,
expressed in this 1990 play and sub-sequent
1993 film, that everyone in
the world is connected by a series of
only six acquaintances.
“ Occasionally, long- range associa-tions
quickly connect the seemingly
distant worlds in which people live.
We truly do live in a ‘ small world,’”
Lloyd said.
Faculty/ Staff
Notables
Ralph Smith
( Mathematics)— Associate
Director of Statistical and
Applied Mathematical Sciences
Institute
Roger Woodard ( Statistics)—
Waller Education Award from
the American Statistical
Association
Marie Davidian and Zhao-
Bang Zeng ( Statistics)— William
Neal Reynolds Professors of
Agriculture and Life Sciences
Marie Davidian ( Statistics)—
Alumni Distinguished Research
Award
Tom Reiland ( Statistics)—
Alumni Distinguished
Undergraduate Professor Award
Dennis Boos and Leonard
Stefanski ( Statistics)— D. D.
Mason Faculty Award
Statistics Department— NC
State Departmental Teaching
and Learning Excellence Award
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
Dr. Alun Lloyd
New research building opens
About 250 people got an inside
glimpse into the latest cutting- edge
research at an open house for
Partners III, a new research building
on Centennial Campus.
PAMS hosted the open house in
partnership with the College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences, which
shares the building.
PAMS’ nanosciences research
programs from the Chemistry and
Physics departments occupy about
three- fifths of the building and
include the surface science laboratory,
nanotribology laboratory, the nuclear
magnetic resonance spectroscopy
laboratory, the Center for High
Performance Simulation, and others.
The open house was held in con-junction
with the 20th anniversary
celebration for Centennial Campus.
Attendees included elected
officials, research partners, members
of the campus community and the
general public. They were able to tour
several labs and visit with faculty
and students about their research.
Partners III
10 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
This group of statistics students
enjoyed a visit to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
Answer: 1.6%
PHOTO BY MARCIA GUMPERTZ
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
Statistician leads effort to
faster drug discovery
Jacqueline Hughes- Oliver,
associate professor of statistics,
has received a $ 747,000 grant from
the National Institutes of Health
( NIH) to launch a research project
devoted to helping scientists discover
new drugs more efficiently.
Her research team seeks to
develop statistical and computational
methods to identify compounds that
may be developed into medicines.
Being able to model relationships
between chemical structure and
reactivity creates an important short-cut
in the normally time- and labor-intensive
drug discovery process.
Instead of trial- and- error, scientists
can use computer modeling to
determine more quickly what
chemicals hold promise for use in
disease- treating medications.
This increase in efficiency would
allow scientists to develop drugs
more quickly, and increase the num-ber
of drugs being considered at a
given time.
Because this process would be
quicker and cheaper than conven-tional
drug discovery, it may also lead
to decreased costs that may be
passed on to patients. More impor-tantly,
it would make drug discovery
efforts for rare diseases more
cost- effective for pharmaceutical
companies to pursue.
“ This effort is the newest example
of our department’s 64- year commit-ment
to interdisciplinary research,”
said Sastry Pantula, department
head. “ This initiative will bring
chemists and computer scientists
together with statisticians to work
as a team on important scientific
problems.”
Other NC State faculty members
involved in the research include
Dr. Morteza Khaledi of the Chemistry
Department, Dr. Robert Funderlic of
the Computer Science Department,
and Dr. Gary Howell of the
Information Technology Division.
This work was funded by the
National Institutes of Health through
the NIH Roadmap for Medical
Research. Information on the
Molecular Libraries Roadmap
Initiative can be obtained from
http:// nihroadmap. nih. gov/ molecu-larlibraries/.
Statistics Club visits alumni,
agencies in Washington, DC
On an average day, what percent-age
of all trips taken in the nation
involve public transit: 1.6%, 3.5%,
9.8%, or 16.7%? ( see answer below)
The NC State Statistics Club
learned the answer to this and other
questions during a visit to the Bureau
of Transportation Statistics in
Washington, DC
Each year the club visits two fed-eral
agencies, tours important sites,
and dines with DC- area NC State
alumni. Other agencies visited in the
past have included the Food and Drug
Administration, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, Census Bureau and Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
Professionals at each agency
describe their work, the roles statisti-cians
play in their organizations, the
types of statistical methods they use,
the types of reports they produce,
and share other information.
The trip was topped off by dinner
with NC State alumni B. J. George,
Jennifer Lawhorn, Pam Sims and
Ming Xiong. The students and alumni
particularly appreciated that
American Statistical Association
Executive Director Bill Smith and his
wife, Patricia, joined them for dinner.
This annual trip is an excellent
opportunity for statistics undergrad-uates
to visit federal agencies and
meet with local alumni. If you’re an
NC State alumnus in the DC area, or
a statistician at a federal agency or
DC company, and would like to get
involved, please contact Marcia
Gumpertz at gumpertz@ ncsu. edu.
Dr. Jacqueline Hughes- Oliver
PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD
Dr. Bruce Weir
New genome map may aid disease research
A team of international scientists,
including Bruce Weir of NC State, has
created a “ map” of the human
genome that will help scientists find
the genetic causes of common dis-eases
like diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Weir is one of more than 60 sci-entists
from around the world
involved in the effort to create a
haplotype map, or “ HapMap,” of the
human genome— a map that pin-points
genetic differences between
people. The researchers’ findings
appear in the Oct. 27 issue of the
journal Nature.
A haplotype is a short piece of a
chromosome. Human DNA contains
23 chromosomes, and these chromo-somes
are almost identical from
person to person. However, there are
places along the genome— the
genetic content within these chro-mosomes—
where variations occur.
Scientists refer to these positions
along the genome as SNPs ( single
nucleotide polymorphisms) or
“ snips.”
The aim of the HapMap is to
provide scientists and medical
researchers with “ addresses” along
the map that will show them where
these genetic variations occur.
“ Most of our diseases have a
genetic component,” Weir said. “ We
need to find out what these genes
are, and to do that we first must dis-cover
where they are. The HapMap
basically identifies landmarks along
the chromosomes so that researchers
can eventually find the genes
responsible for diseases like
Alzheimer’s, diabetes and others.”
These results represent the end of
the first phase of the International
HapMap Project, a study of the
genetic constitution of 269 people of
varying ethnicity: 90 people of
European descent, 90 members of
the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, 45
Chinese residents of Beijing and 44
Japanese residents of Tokyo.
A partnership of scientists from
Canada, China, Japan, Nigeria, the
United Kingdom and the United
States began the project in 2002. The
researchers’ findings are available to
the public via their Web site:
www. hapmap. org.
As a statistician, Weir’s role in the
HapMap project was to help make
sense of the raw data. “ Basically, we
had all these numbers and letters in a
giant computer file of data,” he said.
“ Our team needed to figure out how
this data should best be organized in
order to help other scientists and
researchers use it, and then to do the
organizing.
“ Phase I of the HapMap project
identified 1 million SNPs,” Weir said.
“ We believe that there are 10 million
total positions along the genome
where variations occur, but that
identifying a fraction of them should
be sufficient for our purposes. One of
the HapMap goals is to identify that
fraction.”
Phase II of the HapMap project
should be finished in the near future.
There are also plans to extend the
study to other world populations.
Weir is excited about the future
ramifications of the project.
“ This is really big science— 60
scientists from around the world
working toward a common goal that
will have a huge impact on
mankind,” Weir said
“ Most of our diseases have a
genetic component. We need to
find out what these genes are, and
to do that we first must discover
where they are.”
— Bruce Weir
Weir receives Holladay Medal
Bruce Weir was one of five 2005
recipients of the Alexander Quarles
Holladay Medal for Excellence in
recognition of his outstanding career
at NC State.
The Holladay Medal is the highest
honor bestowed on a faculty member
by the trustees and the university
and recognizes the contributions of
faculty members in teaching,
research and service.
Weir built an international reputa-tion
in population genetics during his
29 years at NC State. His pioneering
work in statistical genetics has broad
impacts, ranging from plant and ani-mal
breeding to bioinformatics and
DNA forensics.
He is the founding director of
NC State’s Bioinformatics Research
Center, and he established the bio-informatics
graduate program. He
also initiated the Summer Institute in
Statistical Genetics, which provides
training for scientists in locations
around the world.
Weir received his PhD in statistics
from NC State in 1968.
Weir is a Fellow of the American
Statistical Association and the
American Association for the
Advancement of Science and an
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society
of New Zealand. His numerous
awards include the Guggenheim
Fellowship, the O. Max Gardner Award,
the Kriz Study Award, D. D. Mason
Award, USDA Superior Service Award
for Scientific Research ( Group Award),
Alumni Outstanding Research Award,
Cook Memorial Prize for Mathematics,
and Fulbright Travel Grant.
12 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
PAMS hosts successful
Alumni & Friends Weekend
More than 180 people attended
the first PAMS Alumni & Friends
Weekend, held Sept. 23– 24. This
special program offered something
for everyone – fun, fellowship and
education.
Kick- Off Luncheon
The weekend began with a Kick-
Off Luncheon in the beautiful three-story
atrium of the Marye Anne Fox
Undergraduate Science Teaching
Laboratory.
Attendees gathered on the first
floor and enjoyed sparkling lemonade
and social time with old and new
friends, before moving upstairs to the
mezzanine level for the luncheon.
As part of the program, Dean
Daniel L. Solomon announced the
kick- off of the public phase of the
university’s capital campaign ( see
related story, page 16). The audience
then saw the premiere of a special
video developed to tell the College’s
story to both prospective students
and potential supporters.
The luncheon keynote speaker
was world- famous paleontologist
Dr. John “ Jack” R. Horner, Regents
Professor of Paleontology at
Montana State University and
Curator of Paleontology at Museum
of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.
As funny as he was informative,
Horner described the basics of how
to find and dig up dinosaur fossils.
He then told the story of how “ Bob”
the T. rex was found. This particular
T. rex was the one in which NC State
paleontologist Mary Schweitzer
found soft dinosaur tissue, a discov-ery
that wowed the world earlier this
year ( see related story, page 5).
“ Bob” was named after the person
who first spotted the T. rex’s toe bone
sticking out of the side of a cliff.
“ I thought I’d taught him better,”
Horner said, as he clicked to a slide
showing Bob hacking away at the
rock… while standing on a folding
chair … precariously perched on a
pile of rocks … on a ledge … on the
side of a mountain.
Horner may be best known as
advisor for Steven Spielberg’s three
“ Jurassic Park” films, and as the basis
for the films’ main character, Dr. Alan
Grant. Horner’s groundbreaking per-spectives
on dinosaur behavior
changed the face of modern paleon-tology.
During a brief Q& A session, he
was asked, among other things, how
realistic he thought the “ Jurassic
Park” movies were.
“ It was a good movie, and good
movies are fictional, so I don’t have a
problem with those,” Horner replied,
then added, “ I know that a T. rex
would eat lawyers,” referring to a
scene in the first movie.
Alumni & Friends College
After lunch, it was time to rush off
to class. Attendees had been able to
select three classes from a series of
12 special topics.
Here, Dr. Jack Horner describes why the T. rex leg bone had to be cut before it could be
lifted from the dig site by helicopter. The fortuitous event led to Dr. Mary Schweitzer
finding soft dinosaur tissue preserved inside the leg.
Luncheon attendees varied by age, and included families.
Faculty members from all five
departments presented short lectures
and discussion sessions, some involv-ing
interactive exercises. Topics
ranged from financial mathematics
to global warming and from
nanoscience to dinosaurs.
“ The classes provided an opportu-nity
to appeal to the natural curiosity
that attracts people to our disci-plines,”
said Anita Stallings, executive
director of development and college
relations. “ Our alumni and friends
continue to enjoy learning long after
they’ve left college.”
Some attendees saw first- hand
how today’s classroom is different.
“ I wasn’t prepared for active par-ticipation
in the classroom demon-strations,”
said one participant.
“ After the initial shock, I liked that
part of the classes best.”
Overall, participants had very
positive reports on their classroom
experiences, and to our knowledge,
no one skipped class.
Friday Night Evening Social
That evening, participants and
College faculty gathered at the
University Club for a department-hosted
reunion social, which fea-tured
a photograph display, heavy
hors d’oeuvres, beverages and live
beach music and oldies by The
Entertainers.
“ While several people enjoyed
dancing, many preferred to talk,”
Stallings said. “ Next year, we’ll provide
ample opportunities for conversation.”
Saturday Gametime Gathering
Weekend participants without
tickets to the NC State/ UNC football
game were invited to a gametime
gathering in a private room at Jillian’s
sports club in downtown Raleigh.
Lawrence Ives ( Physics ‘ 73, ‘ 76,
‘ 84) had said he was going to stand
on the side of the road near the
stadium in hopes of finding a spare
ticket. He thought better of this plan
and showed up at Jillian’s.
“ I decided I’d rather watch the
game with friends,” he said.
And considering the bad luck
experienced by the Wolfpack,
everyone needed the support and
camaraderie of friends.
What about next year?
Throughout the Weekend, parti-cipants
requested that the College
present such a program again. An
online survey provided overwhelm-ingly
positive evaluations, and
suggestions were enthusiastic and
constructive.
The following responses were
typical of those received through the
survey:
“ This event was a great idea, and
a way to get alumni reconnected to
the University and PAMS. I thought
the planning was tremendous. The
faculty did a great job preparing, and
teaching during the courses.”
“ Overall, the Friday luncheon and
sessions were wonderful. I really
enjoyed getting back on campus and
seeing old friends and colleagues.
Thanks!”
“ My wife and I were thoroughly
impressed with all the things PAMS
has accomplished and continues to
accomplish. It is really great to show
off what is happening there. We
congratulate you … Thanks for
including us.”
“ Clearly, our alumni and friends do
want to see this grow into an annual
event,” Stallings said. “ This is very
exciting, and we’re already planning
for next year.”
In “ Classroom of the Future,” Rita Bigham and Connie Moreadith use a calculator to figure out how many paces it takes
to walk across the country.
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
Drs. Len Pietrafesa and Lian Xie discussed current research into hurricanes, including the dangerous flooding left in their wake. Here,
Pietrafesa explains how hurricanes distribute heat across the globe, a critical process that provides an overall temperate environment
in which humans can live.
PHOTOS THIS PAGE BY SALLY RAMEY
14 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
Visit www. pams. ncsu. edu/ week-end,
and you’ll find links to a photo
gallery from the Alumni & Friends
Weekend. You may spot yourself or
some familiar faces.
At this site, you’ll also find audio
podcasts of three classes from the
Alumni & Friends College.
The podcasts can be played with
any general media player on your
computer. The three podcasts include
the following topics:
“ The new frontier of nanoscience,”
featuring chemist Chris Gorman
and physicist Bob Nemanich
“ How search engines work,” with
Carl Meyer of the Mathematics
Department
“ PAMS— Wow, have things
changed,” presented by Dean Dan
Solomon
The podcasts are accompanied by
related PowerPoint presentations.
After listening to the podcasts, please
complete the online evaluations.
Thanks to
Alumni &
Friends College
faculty
The following faculty
prepared and presented special
lectures for the first Alumni &
Friends College.
How Google works—
Carl Meyer, Mathematics
Are your investments
safe?— Jean- Pierre Fouque,
Mathematics
The new frontier of
nanoscience— Chris Gorman,
Chemistry and Robert
Nemanich, Physics
The Galapagos: Islands of
change— John Morrison, Marine,
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Not your daddy’s science
class!— David Haase, Physics;
The Science House
Environmental statistics:
A new source of discovery—
Bill Hunt and Kim Weems,
Statistics
Hurricane!— Len Pietrafesa
and Lian Xie, Marine, Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences
Global warming: Fact or
fiction?— Fred Semazzi, Marine,
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences;
Mathematics
CSI: Raleigh— Chris Basten,
Statistics, Bioinformatics
Research Center
Dinosaurs: Secrets
revealed— Julia Clarke and Mary
Schweitzer, Marine, Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences
Classroom of the future—
Bob Beichner, Physics and Maria
Oliver- Hoyo, Chemistry
PAMS: Wow, have things
changed!— Daniel Solomon,
Dean
Seth Hudson and
Cecily Turner
enjoyed their visit
back to campus.
In “ Not Your Daddy’s Science Class,”
David Haase described some of
today’s innovative approaches to
science and mathematics instruction
that have changed K– 12 schools.
Haase is director of The Science
House, which partners with K– 12
schools to enhance science and
math education.
Jack Penny, Greg and Leigh
Wilkinson and Hien Tran ( stand-ing)
are not pleased by the
progress of the football game.
Weekend photos and podcasts online now
PAMS presents economic development
“ Achieve More Field Day” luncheon
In collaboration with the NC State
Economic Development Partnership
and the Council for Entrepreneurial
Development, the College recently
participated in the Achieve More
Field Day luncheon series.
This outreach program allows NC
State colleges to showcase research
areas that promise to impact future
economic development. Attendees
include venture capitalists, patent
attorneys, investors and serial
entrepreneurs.
The College was represented by
Drs. Jacqueline Krim and Robert
Nemanich of the Physics
Department, and Drs. Dan Comins
and Jon Lindsey of the Chemistry
Department. Each spoke about their
particular area of research, and its
possible future applications.
For example, Comins described
how the nicotine molecule could be
used to provide short- cuts in the
synthesis of certain compounds of
commercial value, leading to quicker,
simpler and cheaper production.
About 60 people attended the
program, and many lingered
afterward to have more detailed
discussions with the speakers.
“ This was a new experience for the
College, and it seems to have pro-duced
concrete results,” said Dean
Daniel L. Solomon. “ One of these
faculty members is now in discus-sions
with a company about a
specific project, and that came about
as a direct result of the luncheon
program.”
Welcome to PAMS Alumni & Friends Society
If you’re reading this, you’re
probably already a member!
After a two- year process of
obtaining ideas and suggestions
from a large number of alumni and
friends, the College has established
an Alumni and Friends Society.
The purpose of the Society is to
develop relationships with alumni and
friends through new and existing
initiatives and to enhance, promote
and support the College’s teaching,
research and outreach programs.
The Society is guided by a board of
advisors. That board includes Cindy
Clark, Bill Donovan, Floyd Green, Scott
Guthrie, Bill McClenny, Wayne Pace,
Jack Penny, Kimberly Potter, Pam
Pittman Robinson, Chuck Wachtel and
Bill White. Also on the board are Leigh
Wilkinson, president, Benton Satter-field,
Jr., vice president and Carl Allen,
secretary.
“ The Society is already off to a
great start,” said Denise Hubbard,
Director of Development. “ They
formed a task force that provided
input, promotions and staffing for
the first Alumni & Friends Weekend,
and several members attended a
welcome dinner for Dr. Jack Horner,
hosted by our outgoing Foundation
president, Connie Moreadith.”
The Society board plans to expand
involvement opportunities for the
College’s alumni and friends. This
includes student recruitment events
and the next Alumni & Friends
Weekend.
“ We are so excited about the
enthusiasm of the board and task force
members,” Hubbard said. “ These indi-viduals
truly understand what a differ-ence
they can make in helping the
College achieve its vision, which will
benefit students for years to come.”
Anyone who has attended the
College is automatically a member of
the Society. Any non- alumnus who
has made a financial contribution to
the College is automatically a mem-ber.
Other non- alumni who wish to
join as a friend may apply for mem-bership
by completing an application.
More information may be found
at www. pams. ncsu. edu/ society.
PHOTO BY SALLY RAMEY
Following the Achieve More Field Day luncheon, faculty presenters visit with participants.
16 FALL/ WINTER 2005 scope
Fellowship honors Skip Stoddard
University, PAMS announce
Achieve! Campaign
NC State recently announced
Achieve! The Campaign for NC State,
an historic, $ 1 billion university- wide
fundraising effort that will ensure
our ability to transform lives for
generations to come through truly
innovative teaching, research,
extension and public service.
Private gifts raised during this
campaign will be used to allow the
university to assume an even more
dynamic role in shaping the future of
our state, our country and the world.
PAMS made its campaign
announcement at the Alumni &
Friends Weekend Kick- Off Luncheon.
“ It is important to the College that
we build an endowment that allows
us to remove barriers to higher edu-cation,
as well as recruit students of
exceptional merit,” said Dean Daniel
L. Solomon. “ Private endowment will
allow us to support faculty who
teach and mentor students through
classroom instruction and through
opportunities to work in their labora-tories,
leading to advances that will
improve the human condition.”
To date, the College is at 87
percent of its $ 50 million goal, which
is outlined opposite this page.
There have been several key
achievements in the campaign.
More than $ 4.2 million from alumni,
friends, and corporate partners will
provide scholarship and fellowship
support for our students.
PAMS also has received gifts—
from $ 500 to $ 50,000— from
numerous individuals in response to
a challenge grant that will provide
$ 500,000 in endowment for the
College’s premier K– 12 outreach
program, The Science House.
Solomon also recognized
supporters who have made generous
contributions of $ 1,000,000 or more
in support of programs and
endowment:
The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline
Foundation
SAS Institute
John and Ginger Sall
The W. M. Keck Foundation
“ Our vision is a bold and
important one. My thanks to all
of you who choose to invest in our
vision,” he said.
PAMS Campaign Committee Co-chair
John Sall then spoke enthusias-tically
about the campaign, the
College’s progress toward its goal,
and the quality of the College’s pro-grams.
He held aloft a copy of the fall
2005 issue of the Alumni
Association’s magazine, NC STATE—
which had a T. rex on the front.
“ This is the campaign kick- off
issue of the university’s magazine,”
Sall said proudly. “ And our college is
on the cover.”
While PAMS leads
other NC State colleges
in progress toward its
goal, there is a critical
need for endowment
support— permanent
funds that produce income in per-petuity
to support undergraduate
and graduate students, faculty and
programs. Endowed funds are among
the most important resources any
university can have, providing a
source of support that is stable,
stimulates innovation and ensures
the future progress of an institution.
Anita Stallings, executive director
of development and college relations,
said, “ We’re pleased with our
progress in meeting current needs
goals. Our greatest challenge will be
to meet the endowment objectives in
each category. Of our $ 50 million
goal, $ 12.5 million is targeted for
building the PAMS endowment. If
successful, we will more than double
the endowment for the College,
compared to the balance at the
beginning of the campaign.“
If you are interested in making
a gift, or learning more about various
gift options, please see “ How to make
a gift,” opposite this page.
Dr. Edward “ Skip” Stoddard
received a nice surprise recently.
Unknown to him, several of his
friends, colleagues, associates and
former students established the
Skip Stoddard Student Research
Fellowship endowment in the NCSU
Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Foundation.
“ I think it’s wonderful. I’m flat-tered,”
he said. “ And I’m surprised
that they kept it secret.”
Awards supported by this fund
will honor Stoddard’s 30- year career
and recognize his devoted service to
geology students in the Department
of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences. He will retire in 2006.
Specifically, the fund will provide
support for either upper- level under-graduate
geology majors or graduate
students who require support for field
expenses, special analytical work, or
supplies for completion of research.
“ These funds will really be bene-ficial,”
Stoddard said. “ With the types
of field and analytical work our
students do, sometimes you need
just a little bit of additional support
to do one more study to finish a
research project.”
Anyone wishing to contribute to
this fund may follow the instructions
in “ How to make a gift,” located
opposite this page.
PAMS
Campaign
Committee
Eric Bigham
Charles Case
Eric Doggett
Suzanne Gordon
Julie McVay
Connie Moreadith
Emily Mann Peck*
Mike Peirson
Ginger Sall*
John Sall*
* Co- chairs
Bob Jordan – Liaison,
University Committee
Campaign
Kick- Off Task
Force
Carl Allen
Cynthia Clark*
Maureen Droessler
Joe Hackley*
Connie Moreadith
Glenn Osmond
Lynn Osmond
Emily Mann Peck
Tom Rhodes
Nancy Ridenhour
Benton Satterfield, Jr.
Bob Starbuck
Bill White
* Co- chairs
How to
make a gift
You may remember how difficult it
was to manage the expense of higher
education. You may want to help
today’s students achieve their dreams.
The PAMS Foundation provides
many ways to support students,
faculty and programs of the
College. Whether you want to con-tribute
to an existing scholarship,
support a departmental enhance-ment
fund, make a memorial gift,
or consider more significant
support, our staff is available to
help you explore the options.
To support existing funds
To contribute to a scholarship,
fellowship or other fund, fill out our
secure, online gift form at
www. css. ncsu. edu/ pams/ or mail
a check to the NCSU Physical &
Mathematical Sciences Foundation,
Campus Box 8201, Raleigh, NC,
27695. Make checks payable to PAMS
Foundation and write the name of the
fund on the “ notes” or “ for” line.
If your employer provides
matches for charitable donations,
please send a completed matching
gift form with your contribution.
There are many funds not
mentioned in this issue of Scope,
and several have specific designated
uses. If you would like information
on our various funds to help you
decide the best fit for your support,
please give us a call at 919- 515- 3462.
For a list of funds, visit www. pams.
ncsu. edu/ development/ funds. php.
To explore other options
If you have questions about gift
planning, we can help you identify
tax benefits, choose between per-manent
endowment vs. one- time
support, and explore estate
planning or life- income options.
There are many ways to match
your interests with specific College
needs, and several possibilities for
making your vision a reality.
Whether using cash, appreciated
assets, real estate or a bequest,
we can help you find the best way
to make the most of your gift.
Contact us today at
919- 515- 3462 or by e- mail at
pamsalumni@ lists. ncsu. edu.
PAMS Campaign Goals
Endowment Current Needs
Undergraduate and graduate student support $ 6,500,000 $ 3,500,000
$ 10 million will double the current level of support,
providing resources to compete for talented students
and meet financial needs
Faculty support 5,000,000
$ 5 million will endow professorships to recruit and
retain distinguished teaching and research faculty
The Science House/ K– 12 Outreach 1,000,000 2,000,000
$ 3 million will create an endowment to provide
permanent support for The Science House, and fund
current teacher training and student science programs
Facilities and equipment 10,000,000
$ 10 million will leverage existing construction funds
to support modern instructional methods and technologies
Unrestricted support 2,000,000
$ 2 million in flexible, current gifts will allow us
to respond to exciting opportunities, urgent needs and
unexpected challenges
Research and Program Development 20,000,000
$ 20 million will enable us to conduct research and
develop academic programs leading to discoveries
and knowledge that enhance quality of life and
stimulate economic development
Total $ 12,500,000 $ 37,500,000
Total Campaign Needs $ 50,000,000
Increasing private support for students,
faculty, research, and outreach
programs is critical to achieving
our vision. Our objective is to raise
$ 50 million for the following goals,
which were determined by teams
of faculty, alumni and friends.
20%
6%
10%
20%
4%
40%
College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
North Carolina State University
Campus Box 8201
Raleigh, North Carolina 27695– 8201
PRESORTED
FIRST- CLASS MAIL
US POSTAGE
PAID
RALEIGH, NC
PERMIT NO. 2353
scope
The College of Physical and
Mathematical Sciences is made up of
internationally recognized departments:
Physics
Mathematics
Chemistry
Molecular & Structural Biochemistry
Statistics
Marine, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Scope is published by
the College twice per year
Dean Daniel Solomon
Editor Anita Stallings
Writer Sally Ramey
Contributing Writer Tracey Peake
Design Zubigraphics
11,000 copies of this public document were
printed at a cost of $ 6,265.00 or 56¢ per copy.
Understanding
viral dynamics
Viruses are intricate molecular machines com-posed
of multiple copies of proteins and nucleic
acids that perform complex functions, including
self- assembly, nucleic acid packaging and cell
recognition. These attributes make them ideal
for use in medical applications. Viruses are
highly flexible and undergo structural changes,
depending on physiological conditions. This
flexibility plays a key role in the process of
infection, and may prove helpful in using viruses
as cell- specific “ delivery cages” for medications.
Dr. Tatyana Smirnova of the Chemistry
Department, in collaboration with Dr. Steven
Lommel of the Department of Plant Pathology, is
using novel spectroscopic methods to monitor
viral motion as they undergo structural changes.
Funded by the National Science Foundation,
this research program aims to gain better
understanding of the molecular mechanism of
metal ion- induced structural transformations
observed in plant viruses.
The image above is a ribbon diagram of the Red clover necrotic
mosaic virus’ basic protein unit that comprises the virus’ shell.
The image was generated in MOLMOL software, based on a
cryo- EM reconstruction by Smirnova’s research colleague
Dr. Michael Sherman, Department of Molecular Biology,
University of Texas Medical Center, Galveston. Sixty copies
of this basic unit form the complete virus shell structure.